Shuaib (Arabic pronunciation: [ʃuʕajb]), Shoaib or Shuʿayb (Arabic: شُـعَـيْـب‎, šuʿayb, meaning "who shows the right path"), was an ancient Midianite prophet (Arabic: نَـبِي‎, nabi), sometimes identified with the Biblical Jethro (though Islam attributes to him many deeds not mentioned in the Bible). He is mentioned in the Quran a total of 11 times.[2] He is believed to have lived after Abraham, and Muslims believe that he was sent as a prophet to a community: the Midianites,[1] who are also known as the Aṣ-ḥāb al-Aykah (Arabic: أَصْـحَـاب الْأَيْـكَـة‎,[3][4][5][6] "Companions of the Wood"), since they used to worship a large tree. To the people, Shuʿayb proclaimed the faith of Islam and warned the people to end their fraudulent ways. When they did not repent, Allâh (Arabic: الله‎, God) destroyed the community.[1][4] Shuʿayb is understood by Muslims to have been one of the few Arabian prophets mentioned by name in the Qur'an, the others being Saleh, Hud, and Muhammad. It is said that he was known by Muslims as "the eloquent preacher amongst the prophets", because he was, according to tradition, granted talent and eloquence in his language.[7]

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The main town Shuʿayb was sent to is named 'Madyan in the Qur'an, known in English as Midian, which is frequently referred to in the Hebrew Bible. The preaching of Shuayb, however, is covered nowhere in the Hebrew Bible. The Midianites were said to be of Arab descent, though being neighbors of the Biblical Canaanites, they intermixed with them. It is said they were a wandering tribe, and that their principal territory at Moses' time was the Sinai Peninsula. The figure of Shuʿayb himself is absent in Jewish tradition. Although frequently identified with the Midianite priest Jethro, most modern scholars reject this identification as it is made without any solid grounding. Aside from having no similarity in names, there are chronological differences. Classical commentators, such as ibn Kathir, say Shuʿayb prophesied four generations from Abraham. Shuʿayb is believed to have been the son of Mikil, son of Isaachar, son of Midian, son of Abraham.[7] Scholars who take this to be true believe that the identification with Jethro is, as a result, rendered irrelevant, as Jethro - who lived at the time of Moses - would have been active hundreds of years later.[8]

A map of Midian, the area where Shuʿayb was sent to prophesy, in Islamic belief

The Qur'an states that Shuʿayb was appointed by God to be a prophet to the people who lived east of Mount Sinai, that is the people of Midian. The people of this land were said to be especially notorious for cheating others through dishonesty and for idolatry. Shuʿayb's prophecy mainly involved calling the Midianites to the correct path of God,[9] and forbidding them to worship false gods.

It is also said he told his people to stop being dishonest in their daily activities. Although he preached and prophesied for a sustained period of time, the majority of the people refused to listen to him. Shuayb, however, remained steadfast. He consistently preached powerfully against the wicked, telling them of the punishment that had befallen the sinful before them. Shuʿayb warned the people that their ignorance would lead to the destruction of Midian, giving historical examples of earlier prophets, including Noah, Hud, Saleh and Lot,[10] all of whose people had been destroyed by God.

The people taunted Shuʿayb and told him that, were it not for the prestigious family he came from, he would surely have been stoned to death. Shuayb replied, "Is my family of more consideration with you than God?" When the Midianites refused to believe, they were destroyed by a mighty earthquake.[1] The Qur'an, however, mentions that Shuʿayb, and his believing companions, were rescued from the thunderous punishment.[10][11]

Shuayb's mission is often mentioned in the Qur'an with the mission of Noah, Hud, Saleh and Lot. Scholars have pointed out that these five prophets exemplify the early prophetic missions:[12] The prophet would be sent to his community; the community would pay no attention to his warning and would instead threaten him with punishment; after years of preaching, God would ask him to leave his community and his people would be subsequently destroyed in a punishment.[12] Scholars interpret the listing of the five prophets to be chronological, with Noah being the only prophet in the list who preached before the Great Flood. He was also a descendant of Prophet Abraham.

Another site recognized by Druze as the tomb of Shuʿayb, whom they also call "Nabi Shu'ayb", is located near Hittin in the Lower Galilee.[15][16] Each year on the 25th of April, the Druze gather at the site to discuss community affairs.[17]

^Quran7:85 "And to Midian [we sent] their brother Shuʿayb. He said: 'O my people! serve God, you have no god other than Him; clear proof indeed has come to you from your Lord, therefore give full measure and weight and do not diminish to men their things, and do not make mischief in the land after its reform; this is better for you if you are believers.'"

1.
Jethro (Bible)
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In the Hebrew Bible, Jethro or Reuel was Moses father-in-law, a Kenite shepherd and priest of Midian. In Exodus, Moses father-in-law is initially referred to as Reuel and he was the father of Hobab in the Book of Numbers 10,29. He is also revered as the founder and chief prophet in his own right in the Druze religion. Jethro is called a priest of Midian and became father-in-law of Moses after he gave his daughter, Zipporah and he is introduced in Exodus 2,18. Jethro is recorded as living in Midian, a territory stretching along the edge of the Gulf of Aqaba in what is today northwestern Saudi Arabia. Some believe Midian is within the Sinai Peninsula, Biblical maps from antiquity show Midian on both locations. Jethros daughter, Zipporah, became Mosess wife after Moses had fled Egypt, having fled to Midian, Moses intervened in a water-access dispute between Jethros seven daughters and the local shepherds, Jethro consequently invited Moses into his home and offered him hospitality. However, Moses remained conscious that he was a stranger in exile, naming his first son Gershom, Moses is said to have worked as a shepherd for Jethro for 40 years before returning to Egypt to lead the Hebrews to Canaan, the promised land. After the Battle at Rephidim against the Amalekites, word reached Jethro that under Moses leadership the Israelites had been delivered out of Egypt, so he set out to meet with Moses. And Jethro said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, and who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods, for in the thing in which they behaved proudly, He was above them. ”Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering. These events take place in the Torah portion Yitro, there is some disagreement over the name of Moses father-in-law. In the KJV translation of Judges 4,11, a man named Hobab appears as Moses father-in-law, while Numbers 10,29 makes him the son of Raguel the Midianite, Reuel is noted Exodus 2,16, as a priest of Midian who had seven daughters. Exodus 2,18 the girls returned to Reuel their father, Reuel becomes Moses father in law in Exodus 2,21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. In Numbers 10,29, the Hebrew for the name Raguel is the same as the Hebrew for Reuel, re-u-el, with the first syllable strong accented, is nearer to the true pronunciation. Some suppose he was father to Hobab, who was also called Jethro, another thing to consider is that there is only one Biblical Hebrew word for both brother-in-law and father-in-law. It is, in fact, the word for any and all relations by marriage, however, this is disputed among theologians. Jethro, Moses non-Hebrew father-in-law, is a figure, particularly in the rites and pilgrimages

2.
Prophets and messengers in Islam
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Belief in Islamic prophets is one of the six articles of the Islamic faith, and specifically mentioned in the Quran. Muslims believe the first prophet was also the first human being, Many of the revelations delivered by the 48 prophets in Judaism and many prophets of Christianity are mentioned as such in the Quran but usually in altered form and with different names. For example, the Jewish Elisha is called Alyasa, Job is Ayyub, Jesus is Isa, the Torah given to Moses is called Tawrat, the Psalms given to David is the Zabur, the Gospel given to Jesus is Injil). Notwithstanding, none of the seven Jewish Prophetesses are mentioned in the Quran as prophets, each came to preach Islam at different times in history and some told of the coming of the final Islamic prophet and messenger of God, who would be named Ahmed commonly known as Muhammad. Each Islamic prophet directed a message to a different group of people, in Arabic and Hebrew, the term nabī means prophet. Forms of this noun occur 75 times in the Quran, the term nubuwwah occurs five times in the Quran. The terms rasūl and mursal denote messenger or apostle and occur more than 300 times, the term for a prophetic message, risālah, appears in the Quran in ten instances. The Syriac form of rasūl Allāh, s̲h̲eliḥeh d-allāhā, occurs frequently in the apocryphal Acts of St. Thomas, the corresponding verb for s̲h̲eliḥeh—s̲h̲alaḥ, occurs in connection with the prophets in the Hebrew Bible. The words prophet and messenger appear several times in the Old Testament, the following table shows these words in different languages, In the Hebrew Bible, the word navi occurs more commonly, and the Hebrew word malakh refers to Angels in Judaism. According to Judaism, Haggai, Zachariah, and Malachi were the last prophets, with them, the authentic period of Nevuah died, and nowadays only the Bath Kol exists. In the New Testament, however, the word becomes more frequent. Messenger may refer to Jesus, to his Apostles and to John the Baptist, but the last book of the Old Testament, the Book of Malachi, speaks of a messenger that Christian commentators interpret as a reference to the future prophet John the Baptist. In Muslim belief, every Islamic prophet preached Islam, the beliefs of charity, prayer, pilgrimage, worship of God and fasting are believed to have been taught by every prophet who has ever lived. The Quran itself calls Islam the religion of Abraham and refers to Jacob, the Quran speaks of the Islamic prophets as being the greatest human beings of all time. A prophet, in the Muslim sense of the term, is a person whom God specially chose to teach the faith of Islam, before man was created, God had specifically selected those men whom He would use as prophets. This does not, however, mean that every prophet began to prophesy from his birth, some were called to prophesy late in life, in Muhammads case at the age of 40. Others, such as John the Baptist, were called to prophesy while still at a young age, the Quran verse 4,69 lists various virtuous groups of human beings, among whom prophets occupy the highest rank. Verse 4,69 reads, All who obey Allah and the messenger are in the company of those on whom is the Grace of Allah—of the prophets, the sincere, the witnesses, and we have made the evil ones friends to those without faith

3.
Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested

4.
Jordan
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Jordan, officially The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is an Arab kingdom in Western Asia, on the East Bank of the Jordan River. Jordan is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the east and south, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north, Israel, Palestine and the Dead Sea to the west, Jordan is strategically located at the crossroads of Asia, Africa and Europe. The capital, Amman, is Jordans most populous city as well as the countrys economic, what is now Jordan has been inhabited by humans since the Paleolithic period. Three stable kingdoms emerged there at the end of the Bronze Age, Ammon, Moab, later rulers include the Nabataean Kingdom, the Roman Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. After the Great Arab Revolt against the Ottomans in 1916 during World War I, the Emirate of Transjordan was established in 1921 by the then Emir Abdullah I and became a British protectorate. In 1946, Jordan became an independent state known as The Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. Jordan captured the West Bank, which it later lost in 1967, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Jordan is a founding member of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and is one of two Arab states to have signed a peace treaty with Israel. The country is a monarchy, but the king holds wide executive and legislative powers. Jordan is a relatively-small, semi-arid, almost-landlocked country with a population numbering at 9.5 million, Sunni Islam, practiced by around 92% of the population, is the dominant religion in Jordan. It coexists with an indigenous Christian minority, Jordan is considered to be among the safest of Arab countries in the Middle East, and has avoided long-term terrorism and instability. The kingdom is also a refuge to thousands of Iraqi Christians fleeing the Islamic State, while Jordan continues to accept refugees, the recent large influx from Syria placed substantial strain on national resources and infrastructure. Jordan is classified as a country of high human development with a middle income economy. The Jordanian economy, one of the smallest economies in the region, is attractive to foreign investors based upon a skilled workforce, the country is a major tourist destination, and also attracts medical tourism due to its well developed health sector. Nonetheless, a lack of resources, large flow of refugees. Jordan is named after the Jordan River, where Jesus is said to have been baptized, the origin of the rivers name is debated, but the most common explanation is that it derives from the word yarad, found in Hebrew, Aramaic, and other Semitic languages. Others regard the name as having an Indo-Aryan origin, combining the words yor and don, another theory is that it is from the Arabic root word wrd, as in people coming to a major source of water. The name Jordan appears in an ancient Egyptian papyrus called Papyrus Anastasi I, the lands of modern-day Jordan were historically called Transjordan, meaning beyond the Jordan River. The name was Arabized into Al-Urdunn during the Muslim conquest of the Levant, during crusader rule, it was called Oultrejordain

5.
Levant
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The Levant is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean. The term Levant entered English in the late 15th century from French and it derives from the Italian Levante, meaning rising, implying the rising of the sun in the east. As such, it is equivalent to the Arabic term Mashriq. Eventually the term was restricted to the Muslim countries of Syria-Palestine, in 1581, England set up the Levant Company to monopolize commerce with the Ottoman Empire. The name Levant States was used to refer to the French mandate over Syria and this is probably the reason why the term Levant has come to be used synonymously with Syria-Palestine. Some scholars misunderstood the term thinking that it derives from the name of Lebanon, today the term is typically used in conjunction with prehistoric or ancient historical references. It does not include Anatolia, the Caucasus Mountains, or any part of the Arabian Peninsula proper, the Sinai Peninsula is sometimes included. The Levant has been described as the crossroads of western Asia, the eastern Mediterranean, and northeast Africa, the populations of the Levant share not only the geographic position, but cuisine, some customs, and a very long history. They are often referred to as Levantines, the term Levant, which appeared in English in 1497, originally meant the East in general or Mediterranean lands east of Italy. It is borrowed from the French levant rising, referring to the rising of the sun in the east, the phrase is ultimately from the Latin word levare, meaning lift, raise. Similar etymologies are found in Greek Ἀνατολή, in Germanic Morgenland, in Italian, in Hungarian Kelet, in Spanish and Catalan Levante and Llevant, most notably, Orient and its Latin source oriens meaning east, is literally rising, deriving from Latin orior rise. The notion of the Levant has undergone a process of historical evolution in usage, meaning. While the term Levantine originally referred to the European residents of the eastern Mediterranean region, it came to refer to regional native. The English Levant Company was founded in 1581 to trade with the Ottoman Empire, at this time, the Far East was known as the Upper Levant. In early 19th-century travel writing, the term sometimes incorporated certain Mediterranean provinces of the Ottoman empire, in 19th-century archaeology, it referred to overlapping cultures in this region during and after prehistoric times, intending to reference the place instead of any one culture. The French mandate of Syria and Lebanon was called the Levant states, today, Levant is the term typically used by archaeologists and historians with reference to the history of the region. Scholars have adopted the term Levant to identify the region due to it being a wider, yet relevant, archaeologists seeking a neutral orientation that is neither biblical nor national have used terms such as Levantine archaeology and archaeology of the Southern Levant. Two academic journals were launched, Journal of Levantine Studies, published by the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and The Levantine Review

6.
Islam
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Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion which professes that there is only one and incomparable God and that Muhammad is the last messenger of God. It is the worlds second-largest religion and the major religion in the world, with over 1.7 billion followers or 23% of the global population. Islam teaches that God is merciful, all-powerful, and unique, and He has guided mankind through revealed scriptures, natural signs, and a line of prophets sealed by Muhammad. The primary scriptures of Islam are the Quran, viewed by Muslims as the word of God. Muslims believe that Islam is the original, complete and universal version of a faith that was revealed many times before through prophets including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses. As for the Quran, Muslims consider it to be the unaltered, certain religious rites and customs are observed by the Muslims in their family and social life, while social responsibilities to parents, relatives, and neighbors have also been defined. Besides, the Quran and the sunnah of Muhammad prescribe a comprehensive body of moral guidelines for Muslims to be followed in their personal, social, political, Islam began in the early 7th century. Originating in Mecca, it spread in the Arabian Peninsula. The expansion of the Muslim world involved various caliphates and empires, traders, most Muslims are of one of two denominations, Sunni or Shia. Islam is the dominant religion in the Middle East, North Africa, sizable Muslim communities are also found in Horn of Africa, Europe, China, Russia, Mainland Southeast Asia, Philippines, Northern Borneo, Caucasus and the Americas. Converts and immigrant communities are found in almost every part of the world, Islam is a verbal noun originating from the triliteral root s-l-m which forms a large class of words mostly relating to concepts of wholeness, submission, safeness and peace. In a religious context it means voluntary submission to God, Islām is the verbal noun of Form IV of the root, and means submission or surrender. Muslim, the word for an adherent of Islam, is the active participle of the verb form. The word sometimes has connotations in its various occurrences in the Quran. In some verses, there is stress on the quality of Islam as a state, Whomsoever God desires to guide. Other verses connect Islām and dīn, Today, I have perfected your religion for you, I have completed My blessing upon you, still others describe Islam as an action of returning to God—more than just a verbal affirmation of faith. In the Hadith of Gabriel, islām is presented as one part of a triad that also includes imān, Islam was historically called Muhammadanism in Anglophone societies. This term has fallen out of use and is said to be offensive because it suggests that a human being rather than God is central to Muslims religion

7.
Adam in Islam
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Âdam is believed to have been the first human being and Nabi on Earth, in Islam. Adams role as the father of the race is looked upon by Muslims with reverence. Muslims also refer to his wife, Hawa, as the mother of mankind, Muslims see Adam as the first Muslim, as the Quran states that all the Prophets preached the same faith of Islam. The Quran and hadith give the account of the creation of Adam. Synthesizing the Quran with Sunni hadith can produce the following account and he created Adam from clay and He breathed life into him. He said, I am made from fire, when Adam is from clay, I am not going to prostrate before him. The Quran then says that God commanded that Adam and Eve not eat from one tree in the garden of Eden and they then began to cover themselves because they now knew that they were naked. For this, God banished Adam and Eve to earth, non-canonical Sunni hadith say that fruits were turned to thorns, non-canonical Sunni hadith also say that Adam and Eve were cast down far apart, so that they had to search for each other. In Islamic theology, it is not believed that Adams sin is carried by all of his children, Hadith say that once Adam was on earth, God taught him how to plant seeds and bake bread. This was to become the way of all of Adams children, Adam proceeded to live for about 1000 years, though this has been a topic of debate. According to the story of Adam, humankind has learnt everything from Adam and he was the first to learn to plant, harvest, and bake as well as the first to be told how to repent and how to properly bury someone. God also revealed the various restrictions and the alphabet to Adam. He was made the first prophet and he was taught 21 scrolls and was able to write them himself, Adam was also created from earth. It is well known that earth produces crops, supports animals, Earth is very important to humankind, so being created from it makes them very distinct. According to some Hadith, the races of people are even due to the different colors of soil used in creating Adam. The soil also contributed to the idea there are good people and bad people. Adam is an important figure in other religions besides Islam. The story of Adam varies slightly across religions, but manages to maintain a general theme and structure

8.
Adam
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Adam is a figure from the Book of Genesis who is also mentioned in the New Testament, the deuterocanonical books, the Quran, the Book of Mormon, and the Book of Iqan. According to the myth of the Abrahamic religions, he was the first human. In the Genesis creation narratives, he was created by God, Christian churches differ on how they view Adams subsequent behavior of disobeying God, and to the consequences that those actions had on the rest of humanity. Christian and Jewish teachings sometimes hold Adam and Eve to a different level of responsibility for the Fall, in addition, Islam holds that Adam was eventually forgiven, while Christianity holds that redemption occurred only later through the sacrifice of Jesus. The Baháí Faith, Islam and some Christian denominations consider Adam to be the first prophet, Adam as a proper name, predates its generic use in Semitic languages. Its earliest known use as a name in historicity is Adamu. Its use as a word in the Hebrew language is ׳āḏām. Coupled with the article, it becomes the human. Its root is not attributed to the Semitic root for man --sh, rather, ׳āḏām is linked to its triliteral root אָדָם‎, meaning red, fair, handsome. As a masculine noun, adam means man, mankind usually in a context as in humankind. The noun adam is also the form of the word adamah which means ground or earth. It is related to the words, adom, admoni, according to a number of observers, the word Adam derives from Sanskrit word Adima, meaning progenitor, first, primitive in Sanskrit. In the Book of Genesis, the Hebrew word ׳āḏām is often rendered mankind in the most generic sense, the use of mankind in Genesis, gives the reflection that Adam was the ancestor of all men. Kabbalistic works indicate that Adam also comes from the Hebrew word Adame, in the first five chapters of Genesis the word אָדָם is used in all of its senses, collectively, individually, gender nonspecific, and male. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, its use in Genesis 1 is generic, while in Genesis 2 and Genesis 3 the generic and personal usages are mixed. In Genesis 1,27 adam is used in the sense, whereby not only the individual Adam. Genesis 2,7 is the first verse where Adam takes on the sense of an individual man, the gender distinction of adam is then reiterated in Genesis 5, 1–2 by defining male and female. A recurring literary motif that occurs, is the bond between Adam and the earth, Gods cursing of Adam also results in the ground being cursed, causing him to have to labour for food, and Adam returns to the earth from which he was taken

9.
Idris (prophet)
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Idris ibn Yard ibn Mahlail‘ is an ancient prophet mentioned in the Quran. He is considered to be the prophet in Islam after Adam. Idris unique status inspired many future traditions and stories surrounding him in Islamic lore, according to hadith, narrated by Malik ibn Anas and found in Sahih Muslim, it is said that on Muhammads Night Journey, he encountered Idris in the fourth heaven. The name Idris, إدريس, has described as perhaps having the origin of meaning interpreter. Traditionally, Islam holds the prophet as having functioned an interpretive and mystical role, therefore, these later sources also highlighted Idris as either meaning interpreter or having some meaning close to that of an interpretive role. Several of the commentators on the Quran, such as Al-Baizawi, said he was called Idris from the Arabic dars, meaning to instruct. Idriss father was Yarid and his mother was Barkanah, idriss wife was a woman named Aadanah. Idris also had a son whose name was Methuselah, who would eventually be the grandfather of Prophet Nuh and this means that Idris was the great-grandfather of Noah. Idris is mentioned twice in the Quran, where he is described as a wise man. In chapter 19 of the Quran, God says, Also mention in the Book the case of Idris, He was a man of truth, a prophet, And We raised him to a lofty station. Later, in chapter 21, Idris is again praised, And Ismail, Idris, Idris was born in Babylon, a city in present-day Iraq. Before he received the Revelation, he followed the rules revealed to Prophet Seth, when Idris grew older, Allah bestowed Prophethood on him. During his lifetime all the people were Muslim, no one associated partners with Allah, afterwards, Idris left his hometown of Babylon because a great number of his people committed many sins even after he told them not to do so. Some of the Muslims left with Idris and it was hard for them to leave their home. They asked Prophet Idris, If we leave Babylon, where will we find a place like it, Prophet Idris said, If we immigrate for the sake of Allah, He will provide for us. So the people went with Prophet Idris and they reached the land of Egypt, Idris stood at its bank and mentioned Allah, the Exalted, by saying, Subhanallah. Islamic literature narrates that Idris was made prophet at around 40, which parallels the age when Muhammad began to prophesy, exegesis embellishes upon the lifetime of Idris, and states that the prophet divided his time into two. For three days of the week, Idris would preach to his people and four days he would devote solely to the worship of God, many early commentators, such as Tabari, credited Idris with possessing great wisdom and knowledge

10.
Enoch (ancestor of Noah)
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Enoch is a figure in Biblical literature. In the seventh generation from Adam, he was considered the author of the Book of Enoch, in addition to an appearance in the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible, Enoch is the subject of many Jewish and Christian writings. Enoch was the son of Jared, the father of Methuselah, at 65 years old, he begot Methuselah. Regim and Gaidad are also mentioned as his sons according to 2 Enoch, the Bible says that Enoch lived 365 years before he was taken by God. The text reads that Enoch walked with God, and he was no more, for God took him and this Enoch is not to be confused with Cains son Enoch. The Christian New Testament has three references to Enoch from the lineage of Seth, Enoch appears in the Book of Genesis of the Pentateuch as the seventh of the ten pre-Deluge Patriarchs. Genesis recounts that each of the pre-Flood Patriarchs lived for several centuries, Genesis 5 provides a genealogy of these ten figures, providing the age at which each fathered the next, and the age of each figure at death. Enoch is considered by many to be the exception, who is said to not see death. Furthermore, Genesis 5, 22–29 states that Enoch lived 365 years which is short in the context of his peers. The brief account of Enoch in Genesis 5 ends with the note that he not, 3rd Book of Enoch, a Rabbinic text in Hebrew usually dated to the fifth century AD. These recount how Enoch was taken up to Heaven and was appointed guardian of all the treasures, chief of the archangels. He was subsequently taught all secrets and mysteries and, with all the angels at his back, fulfils of his own accord whatever comes out of the mouth of God, executing His decrees. Much esoteric literature like the 3rd Book of Enoch identifies Enoch as the Metatron, the Book of Giants resembles the Book of Enoch, a pseudepigraphical Jewish work from the 3rd century BC. At least six and as many as eleven copies were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls collections, the third-century BC translators who produced the Greek Septuagint rendered the phrase God took him with the Greek verb metatithemi meaning moving from one place to another. Sirach 44,16, from about the period, states that Enoch pleased God and was translated into paradise that he may give repentance to the nations. The Greek word used here for paradise, paradeisos, was derived from an ancient Persian word meaning enclosed garden, later, however, the term became synonymous for heaven, as is the case here. In classical Rabbinical literature, there are views of Enoch. One view regarding Enoch was that found in the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, which thought of Enoch as a man, taken to Heaven

11.
Noah in Islam
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Nûḥ ibn Lamech ibn Methuselah, known as Noah in the Old Testament, is recognized in Islam as a prophet and apostle of God. He is an important figure in Islamic tradition, as he is counted amongst the earliest prophets sent by God to mankind. According to Islam, Noahs mission was to save a world, plunged in depravity. God charged Noah with the duty of preaching to his people to make them abandon idolatry and to only the One Creator and to live good. Noahs preaching and prophet-hood spanned 950 years according to Quran, references to Noah are scattered throughout the Quran, and there is even an entire sura carrying his name, Noah. Little is known of Noahs personal history before his call to prophecy. However, the Quran records him to have been the son of Lamech and grandson of Methuselah, one of the patriarchs from the Generations of Adam. Noah was neither the leader of the tribe nor a very rich man but, even before being called to prophecy, he worshiped God faithfully and was, in the words of the Quran, a devotee most grateful. According to Islam, he was a prophet, sent to mankind of that region. He conveyed the message for over 950 years, for Muslims, Noah was married to a woman whose name is not mentioned in the Quran. Some Islamic historians such as Al-Tabari have suggested that the name of Noahs wife was Umzrah bint Barakil, most Muslims simply call her by her biblical name Naamah. Islamic scholars agree that Noah had four sons whose names were Ham, Shem, Yam, according to the Quran, one of Noahs sons was a disbeliever who refused to come aboard the Ark, instead preferring to climb a mountain, where he drowned. It is agreed among most Islamic scholars that Yam was the one who drowned, the other three remained believers. The Quran states that Noahs wife was not a believer with him so she did not join him, neither did one of Noahs sons, also the Quran indicates a great calamity, enough to have destroyed Noahs people, but to have saved him and his generations to come. Islamic literature recounts that in the Generations of Adam, many men and women continued to follow Adams original teachings, worshiping ALLAH alone, among Adams descendants there were many brave and pious men, greatly loved and revered by their respective communities. Exegesis goes on to narrate that, upon the death of elders, people felt enormous grief. Then, gradually, through the generations many forgot what such statues were for and began to worship them, in order to guide the people God appointed Noah with the duty of being the next prophet to humanity. According to islamic belief, Noah began preaching to his people both verbally and by example and he would praise God consistently and he urged his people to do the same, warning his tribe of the punishment they would face if they did not mend their ignorant ways

12.
Noah
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In the Abrahamic religions, Noah was the tenth and last of the pre-flood Patriarchs. The story of Noahs Ark is told in the Bibles Genesis flood narrative, the biblical account is followed by the story of the Curse of Canaan. Noah was the subject of much elaboration in the literature of later Abrahamic religions, the primary account of Noah in the Bible is in the Book of Genesis. Noah was the tenth of the pre-flood Patriarchs and his father was Lamech and his mother is unknown. When Noah was five hundred years old, he begat Shem, Ham, the Genesis flood narrative makes up chapters 6–9 in the Book of Genesis, in the Bible. Thus, the flood was no ordinary overflow but a reversal of creation, and God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. They were also told that all fowls, land animals, furthermore, as well as green plants, every moving thing would be their food with the exception that the blood was not to be eaten. Mans life blood would be required from the beasts and from man, whoso sheddeth mans blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man. Noah died 350 years after the flood, at the age of 950, the maximum human lifespan, as depicted by the Bible, diminishes rapidly thereafter, from almost 1,000 years to the 120 years of Moses. After the flood, Noah became a husbandman and he planted a vineyard, and he drank of the wine, and was drunken, and was uncovered within his tent. Noahs son Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his brethren, in Jewish tradition and rabbinic literature, rabbis blame Satan for the intoxicating properties of the wine. In the field of biblical criticism, J. H. Ellens and W. G. Rollins address the narrative of Genesis 9. Because of its brevity and textual inconsistencies, it has suggested that this narrative is a splinter from a more substantial tale. A fuller account would explain what exactly Ham had done to his father, or why Noah directed a curse at Canaan for Hams misdeed, or how Noah came to know what occurred. The narrator relates two facts, Noah became drunken and he was uncovered within his tent, and Ham saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. Thus, these passages revolve around sexuality and the exposure of genitalia as compared with other Hebrew Bible texts, such as Habakkuk 2,15 and Lamentations 4,21. Genesis 10 sets forth the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, among Japheth’s descendants were the maritime nations. Ham’s son Cush had a son named Nimrod, who became the first man of might on earth, a mighty hunter, king in Babylon, from there Asshur went and built Nineveh

13.
Hud (prophet)
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Hud was a prophet of ancient Arabia mentioned in the Qur’an. The eleventh chapter of the Qur’an, Hud, is named after him, Hud has sometimes been identified with Eber, an ancestor of the Israelites who is mentioned in the Old Testament. He is said to have been a subject of a named after its founder, ʿĀd, a fourth generation descendant of Noah (his father being Uz, the son of Aram, who was the son of Shem. The other tribes claimed to be present at time in Arabia, were the Thamud, Jurhum, Tasam, Jadis, Amim, Midian, Amalek Imlaq, Jasim, Qahtan, Banu Yaqtan. The Qur’an gives the location of ʿĀd as being Al-Ahqaf and it is believed to have been in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula, possibly in eastern Yemen and/or western ‘Oman. In the 1980s, a settlement was discovered and thought to be Ubar, which is thought to be mentioned in the Quran as Iram dhat al-‘Imad in the Qur’an, and may have been the capital of ʿĀd. An alternative translation of Iram dhat al-‘Imad is Iram of the tentpoles, However, the ʿĀd peoples wealth ultimately proved to be their failure, as they became arrogant and forsook God and began to adopt idols for worship, including three idols named Samd, Samud and Hara. Hud, even in childhood, remained consistent in prayer to God and it is related through exegesis that Huds mother, a pious woman who had seen great visions at her sons birth, was the only person who encouraged Hud in his worship. Thus, the Lord raised up Hud as a prophet for the ʿĀd people, O my people, I ask no recompense of you for it, My reward is with Him who created me. O my people, beg your Lord to forgive you, and he will send down rain in torrents for you from the skies, and give you added strength. So do not turn away from Him as sinners and they said, O Hud, you have come to us with no proofs. We shall not abandon our gods because you say so, nor believe in you, all we can say is that some of our gods have smitten you with evil. He replied, I call God to witness, and you be witness too, contrive against me as much as you like, and give me no respite. I place my trust in God who is my Lord and your Lord, there is no creature that moves on the earth who is not held by the forelock firmly by Him. Verily the way of my Lord is straight, if you turn away, then I have delivered to you the message I was sent with. My Lord will put other people in place, and you will not be able to prevail against Him. Indeed my Lord keeps a watch over all things, Hud preached to the people of ʿĀd for a long time. The majority of them, however, refused to pay any notice to his teachings, as their aggression, arrogance and idolatry deepened, God, after plenty of warning, sent a thunderous storm to finish the wicked people of ʿĀd once and for all

14.
Eber
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Eber is an ancestor of the Israelites, according to the Table of Nations in Genesis 10-11 and 1 Chronicles 1. He was a great-grandson of Noahs son Shem and the father of Peleg born when Eber was 34 years old and he was the son of Shelah a distant ancestor of Abraham. According to the Hebrew Bible, Shelah died at the age of 464 when Jacob was 20, the Hebrew Calendar synchronises this date with 1817 BCE, however numerous other dates have been proposed for the patriarchs in Genesis. In the Septuagint and other Christian Bibles derived from it, Eber is called Heber and his son is called Phaleg, born when Heber was 134 years old, and he had other sons and daughters. Heber lived to an age of 404 years, according to Abu Isa, Eber, the great-grandson of Shem, refused to help with the building of the Tower of Babel, so his language was not confused when it was abandoned. He and his family retained the original human language, Hebrew. Also to Shem, the father of all the Children of Eber, in some translations of the New Testament, he is referred to once as Heber, however, he should not be confused with the Heber of the Old Testament, grandson of Asher (. Eber is sometimes identified with the prophet Hud of Islamic sources, habiru Eastons Bible Dictionary, Eber | Heber | Hebrew Smiths Bible Dictionary, Eber | Heber | Hebrew International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Eber | Heber| Hebrew

15.
Saleh
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Saleh or Salih was a prophet of ancient Arabia mentioned in the Quran, who prophesied to the tribe of Thamud. Saleh is sometimes equated with Shelakh, a figure from the Hebrew Bible, the Thamudi people are believed to have been the successors to the ancient tribe of ʿĀd. Their ancestor may have been ‘Eber ibn Shelakh the descendant of Noah, with the advance of material civilization, the people of Thamud became materialistic and arrogant as well as godless. Thus, God sent the prophet and seer Saleh, to them about the impending doom they would face if they did not mend their sinful ways. In later Islamic history, when Muhammad led his expedition to Tabuk against the Romans, on a reported Roman invasion from the Levant, the prophet and his companions walked past the land of Thamud. Historic Petra had several places of worship, and the mountain at the site. The narrow gorge leading to the site, known as the Siq, can sometimes channel the wind to produce a loud trumpet-like sound, and it is known by local Bedouin as the trumpet of God. The name of Saleh may originate in the name of the city, as it was known as Sela, a word deriving from the Hebrew term Selah, meaning rock. The prophet Saleh is not mentioned in any other Abrahamic scripture or contemporary historical text, salehs life in his community had been so righteous that the people of Thamud virtually relied upon him for support. In fact, he might have chosen as their leader or king if he had too followed their idolatrous ways. But Saleh was chosen by God as a prophet and he was born for a mission, to preach against the selfishness of the wealthy. Although Saleh preached the message for a period of time. Saleh kept informing his people to look around them and remember the numerous miracles God had bestowed upon them, in monologues of preaching, Saleh reminded his people of the countless castles and palaces they built, and of their technological superiority over neighboring communities. Furthermore, he told them about their ancestors, the ʿĀd tribe, as usually happened in such events, the poor and the needy were the steadfast believers from the community and the suppressive were the rich and arrogant townsfolk. As Saleh took the side of the underprivileged, the chieftains of the tribe reviled the prophet, thus, God gave Thamud tribe a she-camel, to provide them with sustenance, as both a blessing and a test. Pasture was considered a gift of God, and the camel would be a trial to see if the arrogant. The rich, instead of accepting the test of God, hamstrung the she-camel, nine of the worst people were involved in the slaying of the camel, which invited the wrath of God. The people of Thamud had three days for further repentance to God

16.
Salah (biblical figure)
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Salah is an ancestor of the Israelites according to the Table of Nations in Genesis 10. He is thus one of the tables “seventy names. ”He is called Shelah in 1 Chronicles 1,18 and Sala in the Septuagint, in the ancestral line from Noah to Abraham, he is the son of Arpachshad or Cainan and the father of ‘Eber. The name ‘Eber for his son is the eponym of the Hebrew people, from the root ‘abar. Salahs age at death is given as 433,460, and 460, henry M. Morris states that Arpachshad, Salah, and ‘Eber are listed as the most important sons since they were in the line of the promised Seed of the Woman

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Abraham in Islam
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Ibrahim, known as Abraham in the Hebrew Bible, is recognized as a prophet and messenger in Islam of God. Abraham plays a prominent role as an example of faith in Judaism, Christianity, in Muslim belief, Abraham fulfilled all the commandments and trials wherein God nurtured him throughout his lifetime. As a result of his faith in God, Abraham was promised by God to be a leader to all the nations of the world. The Qur’an extols Abraham as a model, an exemplar, obedient, Muslims believe that the prophet Abraham became the leader of the righteous in his time, and that it was through him that people of both the Arabian Peninsula and Israel came. Abraham, in the belief of Islam, was instrumental in cleansing the world of idolatry at the time, paganism was cleared out by Abraham in both Arabia and Canaan. He spiritually purified both places as well as physically sanctifying the houses of worship, Abraham and Ismail further established the rites of pilgrimage, or Hajj, which are still followed by Muslims today. Muslims maintain that Abraham further asked God to bless both the lines of his progeny, of Ismail and Ishaq, and to all of his descendants in the protection of God. They also believe that Muhammad is a descendant of Abraham through Ishmael, Muslims maintain that Abrahams father was Aazar, which could be derived from the Syriac Athar, who is known in the Hebrew Bible as Terah. Other Muslims maintain that Azar was his paternal uncle, commentators and scholars believed that Abraham himself had many children, but Ismail and Ishaq were the only two who became prophets. Abrahams two wives are believed to have been Sarah and Hājar, the latter of whom was originally Sarahs handmaiden, Abrahams nephew is said to have been the messenger Lut, who was one of the other people who migrated with Abraham out of their community. Abraham himself is said to have been a descendant of Nuh through his son Shem, Abrahams personality and character is one of the most in-depth in the whole Qur’an, and Abraham is specifically mentioned as being a kind and compassionate man. Abrahams father is understood by Muslims to have been a wicked, ignorant, the relationship between Abraham and his father, who in the Qur’an is named Azar, is central to Abrahams story as Muslims understand it to establish a large part of Abrahams personality. The Qur’an mentions that Abrahams father threatened to stone his son to death if he did not cease in preaching to the people, despite this, the Qur’an states that Abraham in his later years prayed to God to forgive the sins of all his descendants and his parents. Muslims have frequently cited Abrahams character as an example of how one must be towards people. A similar example of Abrahams compassionate nature is demonstrated when Abraham began to pray for the people of Sodom, Ibrahim was born in a house of idolaters in the ancient city of Ur in Chaldea. His father Azar was a well-known idol-sculptor that his people worshiped, as a young child, Ibrahim used to watch his father sculpting these idols from stones or wood. Despite his opposition to idolatry, his father Azar would still send Ibrahim to sell his idols in the marketplace, once there, Ibraham would call out to passersby, Who will buy my idols. They won’t help you and they hurt you

18.
Abraham
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Abraham, originally Abram, is the first of the three patriarchs of Judaism. His story features in the texts of all the Abrahamic religions and Abraham plays a prominent role as an example of faith in Judaism, Christianity. The biblical narrative revolves around the themes of posterity and land, Abraham is called by God to leave the house of his father Terah and settle in the land originally given to Canaan, but which God now promises to Abraham and his progeny. Various candidates are put forward who might inherit the land after Abraham, Abraham later marries Keturah and has six more sons, but on his death, when he is buried beside Sarah, it is Isaac who receives all Abrahams goods, while the other sons receive only gifts. Terah, the ninth in descent from Noah, was the father of three sons, Abram, Nahor, and Haran, Haran was the father of Lot, and died in his native city, Ur of the Chaldees. Abram married Sarah, who was barren, Terah, with Abram, Sarai, and Lot, then departed for Canaan, but settled in a place named Haran, where Terah died at the age of 205. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran with his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and the substance and souls that they had acquired, and traveled to Shechem in Canaan. There was a famine in the land of Canaan, so that Abram and Lot and their households. On the way Abram told his wife Sarai to say that she was his sister, however, God afflicted Pharaoh and his household with great plagues, for which he tried to find the reason. Upon discovering that Sarai was a woman, Pharaoh demanded that they and their household leave immediately. When they came back to the Bethel and Hai area, Abrams and this became a problem for the herdsmen who were assigned to each familys cattle. But Lot chose to go east to the plain of Jordan where the land was well watered everywhere as far as Zoar, Abram went south to Hebron and settled in the plain of Mamre, where he built another altar to worship God. During the rebellion of the Jordan River cities against Elam, Abrams nephew, the Elamite army came to collect the spoils of war, after having just defeated the king of Sodoms armies. Lot and his family, at the time, were settled on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Sodom which made them a visible target, one person who escaped capture came and told Abram what happened. Once Abram received this news, he immediately assembled 318 trained servants, Abrams force headed north in pursuit of the Elamite army, who were already worn down from the Battle of Siddim. When they caught up with them at Dan, Abram devised a plan by splitting his group into more than one unit. Not only were able to free the captives, Abrams unit chased and slaughtered the Elamite King Chedorlaomer at Hobah. They freed Lot, as well as his household and possessions, upon Abrams return, Sodoms king came out to meet with him in the Valley of Shaveh, the kings dale

19.
Lot in Islam
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Lut ibn Haran, known as Lot in the Old Testament, is a prophet of God in the Quran. He also appears in the Bible, but the stories of Lot are not entirely accepted within Islam. According to Islamic tradition, Lot lived in Ur and was the son of Haran and he migrated with Abraham to Canaan. He was bestowed as a prophet to the cities of Sodom and he was commanded by God to go to the land of Sodom and Gomorrah to preach to his people on monotheism and to stop them from their lustful and violent acts. According to both the Quran and the Hebrew Bible, Lots messages were ignored by the inhabitants and Sodom and their sites cannot be exactly located, but it may be supposed that they were somewhere in the plain east of the Dead Sea or underneath its current limits. Lots story is presented as an Islamic view against rape. Lots people are the people to whom he is sent on a mission and he was not one of their own brethren, as was Salih or Shuaib. But he looked upon his people as his brethren, the Quran says that Lot is a prophet, and holds that all prophets were examples of moral and spiritual rectitude, so the report of Lots drunkenness and incest is considered to be false. The narrative of Lot occupies a large space in the Quran. Most of these passages place the narrative of Lot in a line of successive prophets including Nuh, Hud, Salih, in the past, scholars have stated that these particular prophets represent the early cycle of prophecy as described in the Quran. Scholars interpret the listing of the five prophets to be chronological, Lot is also mentioned alongside Ismael, Elisha and Jonah as men whom God favored above the nations. According to the Quran, Lot was a prophet and a nephew of Abraham, the Quran also draws upon Lots wife as an example for the unbelievers as she was married to a righteous man but cheated him by not believing in his message and was thus condemned to Hell. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities which Lot was sent to with Gods message. Their avarice led to inhospitality and robbery, which in turn led to the humiliation of strangers by mistreatment, the Quran remarks they moved blindly in the frenzy of approaching death. Lot was powerless to protect the boys, but they revealed to him that they were indeed angels sent by God to punish the people for their transgressions. Keeping his faith in God, Lot left his home and the cities during the night with his family and others who believed in him, and only his wife stayed behind. When morning came, God turned the cities upside down, and rained down on them stones hard as baked clay, putting an end to the lives of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah once, Lots story is traditionally used to demonstrate Islams disapproval of rape and homosexuality. Lots struggle with his tribe is seen as concerning the question of homosexuality in general or more specifically male-to-male anal penetration and these interpretations have sometimes widened to condemn homosexuality as a whole, including psychological and social dispositions

20.
Lot (biblical person)
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Lot was a patriarch in the biblical Book of Genesis chapters 11–14 and 19. Lot and his father Haran were born and raised in Ur of the Chaldees in the region of Sumeria on the Euphrates River of lower Mesopotamia, Haran died in that land before his father Terah. Genesis 11, 26-32 gives the generations of Terah, Lots grandfather, among the family members that Lot travelled with was his uncle Abram, one of the three patriarchs of Israel. En route to Canaan, the family stopped in the Paddan Aram region and they settled at the site called Haran where Lots grandfather, Terah, lived the rest of his days. He was 205 years old when he died, Genesis 12 reveals Abrams obedience to the LORD at the age of 75, in continuing his journey to the land of promise. Though Abrams father, Terah, stayed behind, his nephew Lot went with him, there is no mention of Lot having a wife yet. They went southwestward into the land of Canaan, to the place of Sichem, later they travelled south to the hills between Bethel and Hai, before journeying further toward the south of Canaan. After dwelling in the land of Canaan for a little while, there was a famine, after having dwelt in Egypt for some time, they acquired vast amounts of wealth and livestock, and returned to the Bethel area. Genesis 13 helps and discusses Abram and Lots return to Canaan after the famine had passed and they traveled back through the Negev to the hills of Bethel. With their sizeable numbers of livestock and always on the move, the conflicts between herdsmen had become so troublesome that Abram recommended to Lot that they should part ways, lest there be conflict amongst brethren. Abram then headed south to Hebron, staying within the land of Canaan, Lot had encamped on the green Jordan plain among the cities of the plain and initially pitched his tent toward Sodom. The following year the four armies with Chedorlaomer returned and at the Battle of the Vale of Siddim, Chedorlaomer spoiled the cities and took captives as he departed, including Lot, who by then dwelt in Sodom. He divided his forces and attacked at night more than one direction. The pursuit continued and the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and the kings was completed at Hobah north of Damascus. Abram brought back his brother Lot and all the people and their goods, twenty four years after Abram and Lot began their sojourning, the LORD changed Abrams name to Abraham, and gave him the covenant of circumcision. Not long afterward, the LORD appeared to Abraham, for three men came to visit and have a meal with him, and after two left to go to Sodom, Abraham stood yet before the LORD. Abraham boldly pleaded on behalf of the people of Sodom, where Lot dwelt and he continued inquiring, reducing the number to forty five, forty, thirty, twenty, and finally if there were ten righteous in the city, it would be spared. After supper that night before bedtime, the men of the city, young and old and his response infuriated the men of Sodom who accused him of being judgmental and they threatened to do worse to him than they would have done to the men

21.
Ishmael in Islam
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Ishmael is the figure known in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as Abrahams son, born to Hagar. In Islam, Ishmael is regarded as a prophet and an ancestor to Muhammad and he also became associated with Mecca and the construction of the Kaaba, as well as equated with the term Arab by some. Stories of Ishmael are not only found in Jewish and Christian texts, such as the Bible and rabbinic Midrash and these sources include the Quran, Quranic commentary, hadith, historiographic collections like that of Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, and Israiliyat. Ishmael was the first son of Abraham, whose mother was Hagar, the story of the birth of Ishmael is rarely assigned special significance in Islamic sources. There are many versions of the story, some of which include a prophecy about Ishmaels birth and his brethren would rule over all the lands. Ibn Kathir comments that this foretells of Muhammads leadership, Islamic tradition says Abraham was ordered by God to take Hagar and Ishmael to Mecca, and later Abraham returned to Mecca to build the Kaaba. In many of these accounts, the Sakina, or the angel Gabriel guides them to the location of the Kaaba, at which point Abraham builds it and afterwards, leaves the other two there. Generally, it is said that Hagar asks Abraham who he is entrusting herself and he answers that he is entrusting them to God, to which Hagar then makes a reply that shows her faith, stating that she believes God will guide them. Hagar and Ishmael then run out of water and Ishmael becomes extremely thirsty, Hagar is distressed and searches for water, running back and forth seven times between the hills of Al-Safa and Al-Marwah. Hagar is later remembered by Muslims for this act during the Hajj, or pilgrimage, when she returns to Ishmael, she finds either him or an angel scratching the ground with their heel or finger, whereupon water begins flowing and Hagar collects some or dams it up. This spring or well is known as Zamzam, at some point, a passing tribe known as the Jurhum sees birds circling the water and investigates. They ask Hagar if they can settle there, which she allows, there are numerous versions of this story, each differing in various ways. The versions used in this summary, as well as others, most Muslims believe that Abraham was told to sacrifice his son Ishmael, though the Quran does not name the son. The multiple versions suggest that the dhabih was originally a story that had been circulating before being written as it is in the Quran. Each version is indeed a unique work of art, differing from another in various ways to present certain ideas, the general narrative pertaining to Ishmael in Islamic literature describes the sacrifice either as a test or as part of a vow. Some versions tell of the devil trying to stop Gods command from being obeyed by visiting Hagar, Ishmael, every time the devil says Abraham is going to sacrifice Ishmael, each person answers that if God commanded it, they should obey. Eventually, Abraham tells Ishmael about the order and Ishmael is willing to be sacrificed, as Abraham attempts to kill Ishmael, either the knife is turned over in his hand or copper appears on Ishmael to prevent the death and God tells Abraham that he has fulfilled the command. Unlike the Bible, there is no mention in the Quran of an animal replacing the boy, from that day onward, every Eid al-Adha once a year Muslims around the world slaughter an animal to commemorate Abrahams sacrifice and to remind themselves of self-abnegation in the way of Allah

22.
Ishmael
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Ishmael is a figure in the Tanakh and the Quran and was Abrahams first son according to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Ishmael was born to Abrahams and Sarahs handmaiden Hagar, according to the Genesis account, he died at the age of 137. The Book of Genesis and Islamic traditions consider Ishmael to be the ancestor of the Ishmaelites, according to Muslim tradition, Ishmael the Patriarch and his mother Hagar are said to be buried next to the Kaaba in Mecca. Cognates of Hebrew Yishmael existed in various ancient Semitic cultures, including early Babylonian and Minæan and it is a theophoric name translated literally as God has hearkened, suggesting that a child so named was regarded as the fulfillment of a divine promise. This is the account of Ishmael from Genesis Chapters 16,17,21,25 In Genesis 16, the birth of Ishmael was planned by the Patriarch Abrahams first wife, who at that time was known as Sarai. She and her husband Abram sought a way to have children in order to fulfill the Abrahamic covenant that was established in Genesis 15. Sarai was 75 years old and had yet to bear Abraham a child, her idea was to offer her Egyptian handmaiden Hagar to Abraham, so that they could have a child by her. So Sarai, Abrahams wife, took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar, customs of that time dictated that, although Hagar was the birth mother, any child conceived would belong to Sarai and Abram. Genesis 16, 7-16 describes the naming of Ishmael, and Gods promise to Hagar concerning Ishmael and this occurred at the well of Beer-lahai-roi, located in the desert region between Abraham’s settlement and Shur. Hagar fled here after Sarai dealt harshly with her for showing contempt for her mistress following her having become pregnant, here, Hagar encountered an angel of God who said to her Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has listened to your affliction and he shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen. The blessing that this father was promised was that Abrahams descendants would be as numerous as the dust of the earth. However, the promise would be to a son of Sarai, yet God would make of this child a great nation, when Ishmael was born, Abraham was 86 years old. When he was 13 years old, Ishmael was circumcised at the time as all other males in Abrahams house becoming a part of the covenant in a mass circumcision. His father Abram, given the new name Abraham, was also at this time, at the age of 99, initiated into the covenant by having himself and the males of his entire household circumcised. At the time of the covenant, God informed Abraham that his wife Sarah would give birth to a son, which he was instructed to name Isaac. God also mentioned that He will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand will be against everyone, And everyones hand will be against him, And he will live to the east of all his brothers. A year later, Ishmaels half-brother Isaac was born to Abraham by his first wife Sarah when she was 90 years old and this proposition was grievous in Abrahams sight because of his son and the bondwoman, Hagar

23.
Isaac in Islam
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The biblical patriarch Isaac is recognized as a patriarch, prophet and messenger of God by all Muslims. In Islam, he is known as Isḥāq, as in Judaism and Christianity, Islam maintains that Isaac was the son of the patriarch and prophet Abraham from his wife Sarah. Isaac is mentioned in fifteen passages of the Quran, Isaac is mentioned fifteen times by name in the Quran, often with his father and his son, Yaʿqūb. The Quran states that Abraham received good tidings of Isaac, a prophet, of the righteous, in the Quran, it later narrates that Abraham also praised God for giving him Ishmael and Isaac in his old age. His tomb and that of his wife Rebekah is considered to be in the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, alongside Isaacs cenotaph are the cenotaphs of some of the other Quranic/Biblical patriarchs and their wives, Abraham and Sarah and Jacob and Leah. Biblical narratives and the Quran Legends and the Quran Muhammad in Islam Prophets of Islam Stories of The Prophets C. H. Becker, Islamstudien, i,47 ZDMG, xxxii,359, ii Encyclopedia of Islam, W. M. Watt, Ishak Stories of the Prophets, Kisai, Ibn Kathir, The Story of Isaac and Jacob

24.
Isaac
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Isaac (/ˈaɪzək/ was the son of Abraham and Sarah and father of Jacob, his name means he laughs, reflecting Sarahs response when told that she will have a child. He was one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites, the one whose name was not changed, and the only one who did not move out of Canaan. He died when he was 180 years old, the longest-lived of the three, the anglicized name Isaac is a transliteration of the Hebrew term Yiṣḥāq which literally means He laughs/will laugh. Ugaritic texts dating from the 13th century BCE refer to the benevolent smile of the Canaanite deity El, Genesis, however, ascribes the laughter to Isaacs parents, Abraham and Sarah, rather than El. According to the narrative, Abraham fell on his face. He laughed because Sarah was past the age of childbearing, both she and Abraham were advanced in age, later, when Sarah overheard three messengers of the Lord renew the promise, she laughed inwardly for the same reason. Sarah denied laughing when God questioned Abraham about it and it was prophesied to the patriarch Abraham that he would have a son and that his name should be Isaac. When Abraham became one hundred years old, this son was born to him by his first wife Sarah, though this was Abrahams second son it was Sarahs first and only child. On the eighth day from his birth, Isaac was circumcised, as was necessary for all males of Abrahams household, in order to be in compliance with Yahwehs covenant. After Isaac had been weaned, Sarah saw Ishmael mocking, and urged her husband to cast out Hagar the bondservant and her son, Abraham was hesitant, but at Gods order he listened to his wifes request. At some point in Isaacs youth, his father Abraham brought him to Mount Moriah, at Gods command, Abraham was to build a sacrificial altar and sacrifice his son Isaac upon it. After he had bound his son to the altar and drawn his knife to kill him, rather, he was directed to sacrifice instead a nearby ram that was stuck in thickets. This event served as a test of Abrahams faith in God, when Isaac was 40, Abraham sent Eliezer, his steward, into Mesopotamia to find a wife for Isaac, from his nephew Bethuels family. Eliezer chose the Aramean Rebekah for Isaac, after many years of marriage to Isaac, Rebekah had still not given birth to a child and was believed to be barren. Isaac prayed for her and she conceived, Rebekah gave birth to twin boys, Esau and Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when his two sons were born, Isaac favored Esau, and Rebekah favored Jacob. Isaac is unique among the patriarchs for remaining faithful to his wife, at the age of 75, Isaac moved to Beer-lahai-roi after his father died. When the land experienced famine, he removed to the Philistine land of Gerar where his father once lived and this land was still under the control of King Abimelech as it was in the days of Abraham

25.
Jacob in Islam
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Yāˈqub ibn Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm يَعْقُوب إِبْنُ إِسْحَٰق إِبْنُ إِبرَٰهِم, also known as Jacob, is a prophet in Islam who is mentioned in the Qur’an. He is acknowledged as a patriarch of Islam, Muslims believe that he preached the same monotheistic faith as did his forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael. Jacob is mentioned 16 times in the Quran, in the majority of these references, Jacob is mentioned alongside fellow Hebrew prophets and patriarchs as an ancient and pious prophet who stayed in the company of the elect. Muslims hold that Jacob was the son of Isaac and that he preached the Oneness of God throughout his life, as in Christianity and Judaism, Islam holds that Jacob had twelve sons, each of which would go on to father the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Jacob plays a significant role in the story of his son, Joseph, the Quran further makes it clear that God made a covenant with Jacob and Jacob was made a faithful leader by Gods command. His grandfather, father, uncle, son and himself are all prophets of Islam Jacob is mentioned by name in the Qur’an around sixteen times. Although many of these verses praise him rather than recount an instance from his narrative, the Quran nonetheless records several significant events from the life of Jacob. The Quran states, When he had turned away from them and from those whom they worshipped besides Allah, We bestowed on him Isaac and Jacob, and each one of them We made a prophet. The Quran also mentions that Abraham taught the faith of pure monotheism to his sons, Ishmael and Isaac, the Quran records Abraham telling Ishmael, Isaac and Jacob, Oh my sons. Allah hath chosen the Faith for you, then die not except in the Faith of Islam, the Quran also mentions the gifts given to Jacob as well as the strength of his faith, which became stronger as he became older. The Quran mentions that Jacob was guided, given knowledge, inspired, the Quran later states the following regarding Jacob, And We bestowed on him Isaac and, as an additional gift, Jacob, and We made righteous men of every one. And We made them leaders, guiding by Our Command, and We sent them inspiration to do deeds, to establish regular prayers, and to practise regular charity. And commemorate Our Servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, possessors of Power, verily We did choose them for a special - proclaiming the Message of the Hereafter. They were, in Our sight, truly, of the company of the Elect, Jacobs next significant mention in the Qur’an is in the narrative of the surah, Yusuf. Josephs story in the Quran opens with a dream that Joseph had one night, after which he ran to his father Jacob, saying, Joseph said to his father, O my father. I did see eleven stars and the sun and the moon, Jacobs face filled with delight at what he had heard from the young Joseph, and the ageing prophet immediately understood what the dream meant. Jacob could foresee that his son would grow up to be the prophet in the line of Abraham. Jacobs older sons, however, felt that their father loved Joseph and Benjamin, Jacobs youngest son, Jacob knew about their jealousy and warned the young Joseph about it

26.
Jacob
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Jacob, later given the name Israel, is regarded as a Patriarch of the Israelites. According to the Book of Genesis, Jacob was the third Hebrew progenitor with whom God made a covenant and he is the son of Isaac and Rebecca, the grandson of Abraham, Sarah and Bethuel, the nephew of Ishmael, and the younger twin brother of Esau. Jacob had twelve sons and at least one daughter, by his two wives, Leah and Rachel, and by their handmaidens Bilhah and Zilpah. Jacobs twelve sons, named in Genesis, were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph and his only daughter mentioned in Genesis is Dinah. The twelve sons became the progenitors of the Tribes of Israel, as a result of a severe drought in Canaan, Jacob and his sons moved to Egypt at the time when his son Joseph was viceroy. Jacob is mentioned in a number of sacred scriptures, including the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, the New Testament, the Quran, hadith, Baháí scripture, and the Book of Mormon. According to the folk etymology found in Genesis 25,26, according to Jan Fokkelman, the name is a shortened version of Yaaqob-el, meaning God may protect. The Hebrew Bible says at Genesis 32, 28-29 and 35,10, etymologically, it has been suggested that the name Israel comes from the Hebrew words לִשְׂרות and אֵל. Popular English translations typically reference the face off with God, ranging from wrestles with God to God contends, some commentators say the name comes from the verb śārar, thereby making the name mean God rules or God judges, or the prince of God or El fights/struggles. The biblical account of the life of Jacob is found in the Book of Genesis, Jacob and his twin brother, Esau, were born to Isaac and Rebecca after 20 years of marriage, when Isaac was 60 years of age. Rebekah was uncomfortable during her pregnancy and went to inquire of God why she was suffering and she received the prophecy that twins were fighting in her womb and would continue to fight all their lives, even after they became two separate nations. According to Genesis 25,25, Isaac and Rebecca named the first son Hebrew, עשו‎‎, the second son they named יעקב, Jacob. The boys displayed very different natures as they matured. and Esau was a hunter, a man of the field. Moreover, the attitudes of their parents toward them also differed, And Isaac loved Esau because he did eat of his venison, Genesis 25, 29-34 tells the account of Esau selling his birthright to Jacob. This passage tells that Esau, returning famished from the fields, Jacob offered to give Esau a bowl of stew in exchange for his birthright, to which Esau agreed. As Isaac aged, he became blind and was uncertain when he would die and he requested that Esau go out to the fields with his weapons to kill some venison. Isaac then requested that Esau make savory meat for him out of the venison, according to the way he enjoyed it the most, so that he could eat it and bless Esau. It is suggested that she realized prophetically that Isaacs blessings would go to Jacob, Rebecca blessed Jacob and she quickly ordered Jacob to bring her two kid goats from their flock so that he could take Esaus place in serving Isaac and receiving his blessing

27.
Joseph in Islam
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It is one of the common names in the Middle East and among Muslim nations. Of all of Jacobs children, Joseph was the one given the gift of prophecy, although the narratives of other prophets are mentioned in various Surahs, the complete narrative of Joseph is given only in one Surah, Yusuf, making it unique. It is said to be the most detailed narrative in the Qur’an, Yusuf is believed to have been the eleventh son of Yaʿqūb, and, according to many scholars, his favorite. According to Ibn Kathir, Jacob had twelve sons who were the ancestors of the tribes of the Israelites. The noblest, the most exalted, the greatest of them was Joseph, the story begins with Joseph revealing a ru’ya to his father, which Jacob recognizes. In addition to the role of God in his life, the story of Yusuf and Zulaikha became a subject in Persian literature. The story of Joseph in the Qurʾān, a narrative, is considered one of the most beautifully written suras. The Qurʾān itself relates to the importance in the third verse. Most scholars believe this is referring to Josephs story, while others, including Ṭabari and it documents the execution of Gods rulings despite the challenge of human intervention. This is what the story of Yūsuf confirms categorically, for it ends with comfort and marvels, along with the story there is also some commentary from some leading scholars of Islam. Muhammad at-Ṭabari provides exquisite detail and commentary of this narrative in his chapter on Joseph relaying the opinions of well-known scholars. In Ṭabaris chapter, the beauty of Joseph and his mother Rachel is introduced. His father, Jacob, had him to his oldest sister to be raised. Ṭabari comments that there was no greater love than what Joseph’s aunt felt for him as she had raised him as her own, and she was very reluctant to give him back to Jacob and kept him until her death. The reason, according to Ṭabari, that she was able to do this was because of a belt that had passed to her from her father. Ṭabari notes if someone else acquired it by guile from the person who was supposed to have it and this is important because Josephs aunt puts the belt on Joseph when Jacob is absent and then accuses Joseph of stealing it and he thus stays with her until her death. Jacob was very reluctant to give up Joseph and thus favors him when they are together, the story begins with a dream and ends with its interpretation. As the sun appeared over the horizon, bathing the earth in its glory, Joseph, son of Jacob awoke from his sleep

28.
Joseph (Genesis)
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Joseph is an important figure in the Bibles Book of Genesis and also in the Quran as well as the Book of Mormon. In Rabbinic tradition Joseph is considered the ancestor of another Messiah called Mashiach ben Yosef and he will wage war against the evil forces alongside Mashiach ben David and die in combat with the enemies of God and Israel. Joseph, son of Jacob and Rachel, lived in the land of Canaan with ten half-brothers, one full brother and he was Rachels firstborn and Jacobs eleventh son. Of all the sons, Joseph was preferred by his father, when Joseph was seventeen years old he had two dreams that made his brothers plot his demise. In the first dream, Joseph and his brothers gathered bundles of grain, in the second dream, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowed to Joseph himself. These dreams, implying his supremacy, angered his brothers, unaware of this secondary intention, the others obeyed his first. Upon imprisoning Joseph, the brothers saw a caravan carrying spices and perfumes to Egypt. Thereafter the guilty brothers painted goats blood on Josephs coat and showed it to Jacob, ultimately, Joseph was sold to Potiphar, the captain of Pharaohs guard. Later, Joseph became Potiphars personal servant, and subsequently his households superintendent, here, Potiphars wife Zuleika tried to seduce Joseph, which he refused. Angered by his running away from her, she made an accusation of rape. Joseph requested the cup-bearer to mention him to Pharaoh and secure his release from prison, after two more years, the Pharaoh dreamt of seven lean cows which devoured seven fat cows, and of seven withered ears of grain which devoured seven fat ears. When the Pharaohs advisers failed to interpret dreams, the cup-bearer remembered Joseph. He interpreted the dream as seven years of abundance followed by seven years of famine, following the prediction, Joseph became Vizier, under the name of Zaphnath-Paaneah, and was given Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah, priest of On, to be his wife. During the seven years of abundance, Joseph ensured that the storehouses were full, in the sixth year, Asenath bore two children to Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim. When the famine came, it was so severe that people from surrounding nations came to Egypt to buy bread, the narrative also indicates that they went straight to Joseph or were directed to him, even by the Pharaoh himself. This mandate lasted until the days of Moses, in the second year of famine, Josephs half brothers were sent to Egypt to buy goods. After questioning them, he accused them of being spies, after they mentioned a younger brother at home, the Vizier demanded that he be brought to Egypt as a demonstration of their veracity. This was Josephs full brother, Benjamin, Joseph placed his brothers in prison for three days

29.
Job in Islam
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Job is considered a prophet in Islam and is mentioned in the Quran. Some Muslim commentators also spoke of Job as being the ancestor of the Romans, tradition further recounts that Job will be the leader in Heaven of the group of those who patiently endured. The Quran describes Job as a servant of Allah, who was afflicted by suffering for a lengthy period of time. However, it states that Job never lost faith in God and forever called to God in prayer, asking Him to remove his affliction, And Job. Adversity afflicteth me, and Thou art Most Merciful of all who show mercy, the narrative goes on to state that after many years of suffering, God ordered Job to Strike with thy foot. At once, Job struck the ground with his foot and God caused a spring of water to gush forth from the Earth. The Quran states that it was then that God removed his pain and suffering and He returned Jobs family to him, blessed him with many generations of children and granted him great wealth. After Satan has given up trying to turn Job away from the Lord, God removed Jobs affliction and returned his family to him and he returned Jobs wealth and showered Job with gold. Job was also deeply grieved over the oath he had taken, God, however, sent a revelation to Job, which told him to not beat his wife but to gently hit her with a bundle of soft grass. Ibn Kathir narrates the story in the following manner, Job was a very rich person with much land, and many animals and children — all of which were lost and soon he was struck with disease as a test from God. He remained steadfast and patient, so God eventually relieved him of the disease, Jobs lineage was an important field of study for many of the early Islamic scholars. A prevalent belief among early commentators was that Job descended from the line of Esau, although various commentators gave different genealogies relating to Job, all of them traced his ancestry to Abraham through Isaacs son Esau. We raise whom We will in degree, for thy Lord is full of wisdom and we bestowed upon him Isaac and Jacob, all We guided, and before him We guided Noah and among his progeny David, Solomon, Job, Joseph, Moses, and Aaron. Thus do We reward those who do good, Muslim historical literature fleshes out Jobs story and describes him as being a late descendant of the patriarch Noah. Similar to the Hebrew Bible narrative, Ibn Kathir mentions that Satan heard the angels of God speak of Job as being the most faithful man of his generation. Job, being a prophet of God, would remain committed in daily prayer and would frequently call to God, thanking God for blessing him with abundant wealth. But Satan planned to turn the God-fearing Job away from God and wanted Job to fall into disbelief, therefore, God allowed Satan to afflict Job with distress and intense illness and suffering, as God knew that Job would never turn away from his Lord. Although Jobs possessions were destroyed and he suffered many calamities, he remained steadfast in his worship of God, Satan then appeared to Job in the guise of an old man and suggested that God was not rewarding Job for his prayer

30.
Job (biblical figure)
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Job is the central figure of the Book of Job in the Bible. Job is a prophet in the Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, in rabbinical literature, Iyov is called one of the prophets of the Gentiles. Job is presented as a good and prosperous family man who is beset with horrendous disasters that take all that he holds dear, including his offspring, his health. He struggles to understand his situation and begins a search for the answers to his difficulties, the Hebrew Book of Job is part of Ketuvim of the Jewish Bible. Not much is known about Job based on the Masoretic text of the Jewish Bible, the characters in the Book of Job consist of Job, his wife, his three friends, a man named Elihu, God, and angels. It begins with an introduction to Jobs character—he is described as a man who lives righteously in the Land of Uz. The Lords praise of Job prompts an angel with the title of satan to suggest that Job served God simply because God protected him, God removes Jobs protection, ordering the angel to take his wealth, his children, and his physical health. Despite his difficult circumstances, he does not curse God, and although he anguishes over his plight, he stops short of accusing God of injustice. Jobs miserable earthly condition is simply Gods Will, in the following, Job debates three friends concerning Jobs condition. They argue whether it was justified, and they debate solutions to his problems, Job ultimately condemns all their counsel, beliefs, and critiques of him as false. God then appears to Job and his friends out of a whirlwind, Job, by staying silent before God, stresses the point that he understands that his affliction is Gods Will even though he despairs at not knowing why. Job appears faithful without direct knowledge of God and without demands for attention from God. And the text gives an allusion to Job 28,28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding. God rebukes the three friends and gives them instruction for remission of sin, followed by Job being restored to a better condition than his former wealthy state. Job 42, 10–17 Job is blessed to have seven sons and his daughters were said to be the most beautiful women in the land. The Greek Old Testament of the Christian Bible has a revised and updated final verse that claims Jobs genealogy, asserting him to be a grandson of Esau and a ruler of Edom. And he himself was the son of his father Zare, one of the sons of Esau, and his friends who came to him were Eliphaz, of the children of Esau, king of the Thaemanites, Baldad sovereign the Sauchaeans, Sophar king of the Minaeans. In addition to the Book of Job, Job is mentioned in religious texts

31.
Dhul-Kifl
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Dhul-Kifl, or Zul-Kifl is an Islamic prophet who has been identified with various Hebrew Bible prophets, most commonly Ezekiel. It is believed that he lived for roughly 75 years and that he preached in what is modern day Iraq, Dhul-Kifl is believed to have been exalted by God to a high station in life and is chronicled in the Quran as a man of the Company of the Good. Dhul-Kifl has been mentioned twice in the Holy Quran, in the following Quranic verses, And Ismail, Idris and we admitted them to Our mercy, for they were of the righteous ones. And commemorate Ismail, Elisha and Zul-Kifl, Each of them was of the Company of the Good, in both cases, Dhūl-Kifl is mentioned in the context of a list of Quranic prophets, including many others not mentioned in the ayat quoted above. The name Dhul Kifl literally means the one with a kifl, the name is generally understood to mean one of a double portion. Some are of the opinion that Dhul Kifl could be Ezekiel, when the exile, monarchy, and state were annihilated, a political and national life was no longer possible. In conformity with the two parts of his book, his personality and his preaching are alike twofold, and the title Dhul Kifl means the one to double or to fold, the commentators differ in opinion as to who is meant, why the title is applied to him. I think the best suggestion is that afforded by Karsten Niebuhr in his Reisebeschreibung nach Arabian, Copenhagen,1778, 264–266, as quoted in the Encyclopedia of Islam under Dhul-Kifl. He visited Meshad All in Iraq, and also the town called Kifl. Kefil, he says, is the Arabic form of Ezekiel, the shrine of Ezekiel was there, and the Jews came to it on pilgrimage. His Book is included in the English Bible and he was chained and bound, and put into prison, and for a time he was dumb. He bore all with patience and constancy, and continued to reprove boldly the evils in Israel, in a burning passage he denounces false leaders in words which are eternally true, Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves. Should not the shepherds feed the flocks, ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed, but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, Al Kifl is a town in southeastern Iraq on the Euphrates River, between Najaf and Al Hillah. Variant names for the shrine within Al Kifl are, Dhul Kifl Shrine, Marqad Dhul Kifl, Qubbat Dhul Kifl, Qabr al-Nabi Dhu al-Kifl, Dhu al-Kifl Shrine, Zul Kifl Shrine, Qabr Hazqiyal, Hazqiyal Shrine. Hazqiyal is the Arabic transliteration of the Hebrew Yhezqel, which was utilized by Sephardi Jews after they adopted Arabic. This indicates that the Jews equated Ezekiel and Dhul-Kifl, and Muslim exegetes followed suit, the Iraqi authorities assert that in 1316 the Ilkhanid Sultan Uljaitu acquired the rights of guardianship over the tomb from the Jewish community. Consequently, the shrine was renamed according to the Islamic nomenclature for the same prophet, Sultan Uljaitu added to the structure by building a mosque and a minaret

32.
Ezekiel
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Ezekiel is the central protagonist of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible. In Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the Baháí Faith, Ezekiel is acknowledged as a Hebrew prophet, the author of the Book of Ezekiel presents himself as Ezekiel, the son of Buzzi, born into a priestly lineage. Apart from identifying himself, the author gives a date for the first divine encounter which he presents, if this is a reference to Ezekiels age at the time, he was born around 622 BCE, about the time of Josiahs reforms. His thirtieth year is given as 5 years after the exile of Judahs king Jehoiachin by the Babylonians, josephus claims that at the request of Nebuchadnezzar II, Babylonian armies exiled three thousand Jews from Judah, after deposing King Jehoiachin in 598 BCE. According to the Bible, Ezekiel and his wife lived on the bank of the Chebar River, there is no mention of him having any offspring. Ezekiel describes his calling to be a prophet by going into detail about his encounter with God. For the next five years he incessantly prophesied and acted out the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple, on the hypothesis that the thirtieth year of Ezekiel 1,1 refers to Ezekiels age, Ezekiel was fifty years old when he had his final vision. On the basis of dates given in the Book of Ezekiel, the last dated words of Ezekiel date to April 570 BCE. Ezekiel, like Jeremiah, is said by Talmud and Midrash to have been a descendant of Joshua by his marriage with the proselyte, some statements found in rabbinic literature posit that Ezekiel was the son of Jeremiah, who was called Buzi because he was despised by the Jews. Ezekiel was said to be active as a prophet while in the Land of Israel, and he retained this gift when he was exiled with Jehoiachin. Ezekiel, like all the prophets, has beheld only a blurred reflection of the divine majesty. At first God revealed to the prophet that they could not hope for a rescue, whereupon the prophet was greatly grieved. But after they had left the house of the prophet, fully determined to sacrifice their lives to God, Ezekiel received this revelation and that shall not happen, but do thou let them carry out their intention according to their pious dictates, and tell them nothing. Ezekiel is commemorated as a saint in the calendar of the Eastern Orthodox Church—and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite—on July 23. Ezekiel is commemorated on August 28 on the Calendar of Saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church, certain Lutheran churches also celebrate his commemoration on July 20. Ezekiels statement about the gate is understood as another prophecy of the Incarnation, the gate signifying the Virgin Mary. This is one of the readings at Vespers on Great Feasts of the Theotokos in the Eastern Orthodox, the imagery provides the basis for the concept that God gave Mary to mankind as the Gate of Heaven, an idea also laid out in the Salve Regina prayer. According to 17th-century commentator Matthew Henry Ezekiel is also believed to have known as Nazaratus Assyrius

33.
Moses in Islam
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Mûsâ ibn Amram known as Moses in the Hebrew Bible, considered a prophet, messenger, and leader in Islam, is the most frequently mentioned individual in the Quran. The Quran states that Moses was sent by God to the Pharaoh of Egypt, Moses is mentioned more in the Quran than any other individual, and his life is narrated and recounted more than that of any other prophet. According to Islam, all Muslims must have faith in every prophet and messenger which includes Moses, the Quran states, Also mention in the Book Moses, for he was specially chosen, and he was a messenger a prophet. And we called him from the side of Mount, and made him draw near to Us. And, out of Our Mercy, We gave him his brother Aaron, Moses is considered to be a prophetic predecessor to Muhammad. Generally attributed the tale of Moses as a parallel to the life of Muhammad. Islamic literature also describes a parallel between their believers and the incidents occurred in their lifetimes. The exodus of the Israelites from Egypt is considered similar to the migration made by the followers of Muhammad, moreover, according to Islamic tradition, Moses was one of the many prophets Muhammad met in the event of the Miraj, when he ascended through the seven heavens. Moses is further revered in Islamic literature, which expands upon the incidents of his life, according to Islamic tradition, Musa was born into a family of Israelites living in Egypt. Of his family, Islamic tradition generally names his father Imran, corresponding to the Amram of the Hebrew Bible, Islam states that Moses was born in a time when the ruling Pharaoh had enslaved the Israelites after the time of the prophet Joseph. Islamic literature further states that the experts of economics in Pharaohs court advised him that killing the male infants of the Israelites, therefore, they suggested that the male infants should be killed in one year but spared the next. Aaron was born in the year in which infants were spared, according to Islamic tradition, Mosess mother suckled him secretly during this period. The Quran states that when they were in danger of being caught God inspired her to put him in a basket and set him adrift on the Nile and she instructed her daughter to follow the course of the ark and to report back to her. As the daughter followed the ark along the riverbank, Moses was discovered by the Pharaohs wife, Asiya, the Quran states that when Asiya ordered wet nurses for Moses, Moses refused to be breastfed. Islamic tradition states that this was because God had forbidden Moses from being fed by any wet nurse as to reunite his mother with him. His sister worried that Moses had not been fed for some time, therefore, she appeared to the Pharaoh and informed him that she knew someone, Islamic tradition states that after being questioned, she was ordered to bring the woman being discussed. The sister brought their mother who fed Moses and thereafter she was appointed as the wet nurse of Moses, according to Israiliyat hadith, during his childhood when Moses was playing on Pharaohs lap and he grabbed the Pharaohs beard. This action prompted the Pharaoh to consider Moses as the Israelite who would overthrow him, the Pharaoh decided to kill Moses but stopped after the Pharaohs wife interceded and argued that he was just an infant, and due to her intercession the Pharaoh decided to test Moses

34.
Moses
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Moses is a prophet in Abrahamic religions. Also called Moshe Rabbenu in Hebrew, he is the most important prophet in Judaism and he is also an important prophet in Christianity, Islam, the Baháí Faith as well as a number of other Abrahamic religions. Moses Hebrew mother, Jochebed, secretly hid him when the Pharaoh ordered all newborn Hebrew boys to be killed in order to reduce the population of the Israelites. Through the Pharaohs daughter, the child was adopted as a foundling from the Nile river and grew up with the Egyptian royal family. After killing an Egyptian slavemaster, Moses fled across the Red Sea to Midian, God sent Moses back to Egypt to demand the release of the Israelites from slavery. Moses said that he could not speak with assurance or eloquence, so God allowed Aaron, his brother, to become his spokesperson. After the Ten Plagues, Moses led the Exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt and across the Red Sea, after which they based themselves at Mount Sinai, after 40 years of wandering in the desert, Moses died within sight of the Promised Land on Mount Nebo. According to archaeologist William G. Rabbinical Judaism calculated a lifespan of Moses corresponding to 1391–1271 BCE, Jerome gives 1592 BCE, the Biblical account of Moses birth provides him with a folk etymology to explain the ostensible meaning of his name. He is said to have received it from the Pharaohs daughter and she named him Moses, saying, I drew him out of the water. This explanation links it to a verb mashah, meaning to draw out, the princess made a grammatical mistake which is prophetic of his future role in legend, as someone who will draw the people of Israel out of Egypt through the waters of the Red Sea. Abraham Yahuda, based on the spelling given in the Tanakh, argues that it combines water or seed and pond, expanse of water, the Hebrew etymology in the Biblical story may reflect an attempt to cancel out traces of Moses Egyptian origins. The Egyptian character of his name was recognized as such by ancient Jewish writers like Philo of Alexandria and Josephus. Philo linked Mōēsēs to the Egyptian word for water, while Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews, claimed that the element, -esês. Hizkuni suggested she either converted or took a tip from Jochebed, the Israelites had settled in the Land of Goshen in the time of Joseph and Jacob, but a new pharaoh arose who oppressed the children of Israel. At this time Moses was born to his father Amram, son of Kehath the Levite, who entered Egypt with Jacobs household, his mother was Jochebed, Moses had one older sister, Miriam, and one older brother, Aaron. One day after Moses had reached adulthood he killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew, Moses, in order to escape the Pharaohs death penalty, fled to Midian. There, on Mount Horeb, God revealed to Moses his name YHWH and commanded him to return to Egypt and bring his people out of bondage. Moses returned to carry out Gods command, but God caused the Pharaoh to refuse, from Egypt, Moses led the Israelites to biblical Mount Sinai, where he was given the Ten Commandments from God, written on stone tablets

35.
Aaron
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In the Hebrew Bible, Aaron was the elder brother of Moses and a Prophet of God. Islamic literature, which also considers Aaron a Prophet of God, knowledge of Aaron, along with his brother Moses, comes exclusively from religious texts, such as the Bible and Qur’an. The Hebrew Bible relates that, unlike Moses, who grew up in the Egyptian royal court, Aaron, when Moses first confronted the Egyptian king about the Israelites, Aaron served as his brothers spokesman to Pharaoh. Part of the Law that Moses received from God at Sinai granted Aaron the priesthood for himself and his male descendants, Aaron died before the Israelites crossed the North Jordan river and he was buried on Mount Hor. Aaron is also mentioned in the New Testament of the Bible, according to the Book of Exodus, Aaron first functioned as Moses assistant. Because Moses complained that he could not speak well, God appointed Aaron as Moses prophet, at the command of Moses, he let his rod turn into a snake. Then he stretched out his rod in order to bring on the first three plagues, after that, Moses tended to act and speak for himself. During the journey in the wilderness, Aaron was not always prominent or active, at the battle with Amalek, he was chosen with Hur to support the hand of Moses that held the rod of God. When the revelation was given to Moses at Mount Sinai, he headed the elders of Israel who accompanied Moses on the way to the summit, while Joshua went with Moses to the top, however, Aaron and Hur remained below to look after the people. From here on in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, Joshua appears in the role of Moses assistant while Aaron functions instead as the first high priest. The books of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers maintain that Aaron received from God a monopoly over the priesthood for himself, the family of Aaron had the exclusive right and responsibility to make offerings on the altar to the God of Israel. The rest of his tribe, the Levites, were given subordinate responsibilities within the sanctuary, Moses anointed and consecrated Aaron and his sons to the priesthood, and arrayed them in the robes of office. He also related to them Gods detailed instructions for performing their duties while the rest of the Israelites listened, Aaron and his successors as high priest were given control over the Urim and Thummim by which the will of God could be determined. God commissioned the Aaronide priests to distinguish the holy from the common and the clean from the unclean, the priests were also commissioned to bless the people. In this way, the institution of the Aaronide priesthood was established, in later books of the Old Testament, Aaron and his kin are not mentioned very often except in literature dating to the Babylonian Exile and later. The books of Judges, Samuel and Kings mention priests and Levites, the book of Ezekiel, which devotes much attention to priestly matters, calls the priestly upper class the Zadokites after one of King Davids priests. It does reflect a two-tier priesthood with the Levites in subordinate position, a two-tier hierarchy of Aaronides and Levites appears in Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles. As a result, many think that Aaronide families did not control the priesthood in pre-exilic Israel

36.
David in Islam
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The biblical David, who was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah, reigning in c. 1010–970 BCE, is also venerated in Islam as a prophet and messenger of God, and as a righteous, divinely-anointed monarch of the ancient United Kingdom of Israel, which itself is revered in Islam. Additionally, Muslims also honor David for having received the revelation of the Psalms. Mentioned sixteen times in the Quran, David appears in the Islamic scripture as a link in the chain of prophets who preceded Muhammad, although he is not usually considered one of the law-giving prophets, he is far from a marginal figure in Islamic thought. In later Islamic traditions, he is praised for his rigor in prayer and he is also presented as the prototypical just ruler and as a symbol of Gods authority on earth, having been at once a king and a prophet. David is particularly important to the architecture of Islamic Jerusalem. The Quranic Arabic form of David is Dāwud or Dāwūd, differing from Koine Greek Δαυίδ and these forms appear in the Quran sixteen times. Davids narrative in the Quran in many respects parallels that given in the Bible, although he is never explicitly named a prophet or a messenger, David is included in lists of those who received revelation or guidance from God. In both lists his name next to that of his son Solomon. Elsewhere, the Quran explains that God gave to both of them the gifts of sound judgement and knowledge, the mountains and the birds praised God along with David. God made David a vicegerent, a title that the Quran otherwise gives only to Adam and this title suggests that, to the Quran, David was something more than a messenger, he was a divinely guided leader who established God’s rule on earth. This role is suggested by 2,251, God gave him authority and wisdom. If God did not drive back some people by others, the earth would become corrupt, among the things taught to David was the ability to make armour, a suggestion that David’s military exploits were the act of God. It is also important that the Quranic reference to Davids wisdom was sometimes explained by the classical exegetes as the gift of prophecy, the Quran also connects David and Jesus, by insisting that both cursed those Israelites who did not believe. Moreover, according to the Quran, David was given the ability to distinguish between truth and falsehood when dispensing justice, furthermore, there is the allusion to a test David was put through, wherein he prayed and repented and God forgave him. The Zabur is the book attributed to Prophet David by God, just as Prophet Moses got the Tawrat, Prophet Jesus got the Injil. In the current Hebrew Bible, the Zabur is known as the Psalms, however, like other scriptures of the past, the Psalms are believed to have been corrupted over time, with some of the original message gone. Nonetheless, Muslims are told to treat the present Psalms with immense respect because, in their original form, the Quran states, Your Lord knows whoever is in the heavens and the earth. We exalted some of the prophets over the others, and to David We gave the Book of Psalms, the term Zabur is the Arabic equivalent of the Hebrew Zimra, meaning song/music

37.
David
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David was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah, reigning in c. He is described as a man after Gods own heart in 1 Samuel 13,14 and Acts 13,22. The Hebrew prophets regarded him as the ancestor of the future messiah, the New Testament says he was an ancestor of Jesus. God is angered when Saul, Israels king, unlawfully offers a sacrifice and later disobeys a divine instruction to not only all of the Amalekites. Consequently, he sends the prophet Samuel to anoint David, the youngest son of Jesse of Bethlehem, God sends an evil spirit to torment Saul. Sauls courtiers recommend that he send for David, a man skillful on the lyre, wise in speech, and brave in battle. So David enters Sauls service as one of the royal armour-bearers, and plays the lyre to soothe the king, war comes between Israel and the Philistines, and the giant Goliath challenges the Israelites to send out a champion to face him in single combat. David, sent by his father to bring provisions to his brothers serving in Sauls army, refusing the kings offer of the royal armour, he kills Goliath with his sling. Saul inquires the name of the heros father. Saul sets David over his army, all Israel loves David, but his popularity causes Saul to fear him. Saul plots his death, but Sauls son Jonathan, one of those who loves David, warns him of his fathers schemes and David flees. He becomes a vassal of the Philistine king Achish of Gath, but Achishs nobles question his loyalty, Jonathan and Saul are killed, and David is anointed king over Judah. In the north, Sauls son Ish-Bosheth is anointed king of Israel, with the death of Sauls son, the elders of Israel come to Hebron and David is anointed king over all Israel. He conquers Jerusalem, previously a Jebusite stronghold, and makes it his capital. He brings the Ark of the Covenant to the city, intending to build a temple for God, Nathan also prophesies that God has made a covenant with the house of David, Your throne shall be established forever. David wins more victories over the Philistines, while the Moabites, Edomites, Amalekites, Ammonites, during a battle to conquer the Ammonite capital of Rabbah, David seduces Bathsheba and causes the death of her husband Uriah the Hittite. In response, Nathan prophesies the punishment that shall fall upon him, in fulfillment of these words Davids son Absalom rebels. The rebellion ends at the battle of the Wood of Ephraim, Absaloms forces are routed, and Absalom is caught by his long hair in the branches of a tree, and killed by Joab, contrary to Davids order. Joab was the commander of Davids army, David laments the death of his favourite son, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom

38.
Solomon in Islam
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Sulaiman ibn Dawud was, according to the Quran, a Malik and Nabi of ancient Israel. Islamic tradition generally holds that he was the third King of Israel, Islam views Solomon as one of the elect of Allah, who was bestowed upon with many God-given gifts, including the ability to speak to animals and control jinn. Solomon remains one of the most commemorated and popular figures in Islam. Islamic tradition further maintains that, along with Dāwūd and Dhul-Qarnayn, in the earliest narrative involving Solomon, the Qur’an says that Solomon was in the company of his father, when two men came to ask David to judge between them regarding a harth. The first of the two men said that he owned a vineyard of which he took care the whole year through. But one day, when he was absent, the other mans sheep had strayed into the vineyard and he asked to be compensated for this damage. At the same time, the owner of the vineyard would care for the sheep and benefit from their wool and milk until his land was returned to him, at which point he would return the sheep to their owner. Solomons level of judgment, which the Qur’an says in this particular incident surpassed that of David, hikmah, according to Muslim tradition, would always be associated with Solomon, who would later even be referred to as Sulaiman al-Hakim. When David died, Solomon inherited his position as the Prophetic King of the Israelites and he prayed to God to grant him a Kingdom which would be greater than that of any after him and before him. God accepted Solomons prayer and gave him what he pleased and it was at this stage that Solomon began to acquire the many gifts that God would bestow upon him throughout his life. The Qur’an narrates that the wind was made subservient to Solomon, and he could control it of his own will, and that the jinn also came under Solomons control. The jinn helped strengthen Solomons reign, and the unbelievers among them were forced building for him monuments, houses of worship, artwork, reservoirs, God also caused a miraculous ‘ayn of molten qitr to flow for Solomon, to be used by the jinn in their construction. Solomon was even taught the languages of animals, such as ants. The Qur’an recounts that, one day, Solomon and his army entered a wadin-naml, on seeing Solomon and his army, a namlah warned all the others to. Get into your habitations, lest Solomon and his hosts crush you without knowing it, immediately understanding what the ant said, Solomon, as always, prayed to God, thanking Him for bestowing upon him such gifts and further avoided trampling over the ant colonies. Solomons wisdom, however, was yet another of the gifts he received from God, and Muslims maintain that Solomon never forgot his daily prayer, another important aspect of Solomons kingship was the size of his army, which consisted of both men and jinn. Solomon would frequently assess his troops and warriors as well as the jinn, one day, when inspecting his troops, Solomon found the Hud-hud missing from the assembly. Shortly later, however, the Hud-hud arrived to Solomons court, saying I have compassed which thou hast not compassed, the Hud-hud further told Solomon that the people of Sheba’ worshiped the Sun, but that the woman who ruled the Kingdom was highly intelligent and powerful

39.
Solomon
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Solomon, also called Jedidiah, was, according to the Bible, Quran, hadith and Hidden Words a fabulously wealthy and wise king of Israel and a son of David, the previous king of Israel. The conventional dates of Solomons reign are circa 970 to 931 BC and he is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, which would break apart into the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah shortly after his death. Following the split, his descendants ruled over Judah alone. According to the Talmud, Solomon is one of the 48 prophets, in the Quran, he is considered a major prophet, and Muslims generally refer to him by the Arabic variant Sulayman, son of David. Solomon was, according to the Quran, a king of ancient Israel as well as the son of David, the Hebrew Bible credits him as the builder of the First Temple in Jerusalem. It portrays him as great in wisdom, wealth, and power any of the previous kings of the country. His sins included idolatry, marrying foreign women, and ultimately turning away from Yahweh, Solomon is the subject of many other later references and legends, most notably in the 1st-century apocryphal work known as the Testament of Solomon. Solomon was born in Jerusalem, the second child of David and his wife Bathsheba. The first child, a son conceived adulterously during Uriahs lifetime, had died before Solomon was conceived as a punishment on account of the death of Uriah by Davids order. Solomon had three named full brothers through Bathsheba, Nathan, Shammua, and Shobab, besides six known older half-brothers through as many mothers, according to the First Book of Kings, when David was old, he could not get warm. So they sought a young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite. The young woman was very beautiful, and she was of service to the king and attended to him, while David was in this state, court factions were maneuvering for power. Solomon greatly expanded his military strength, especially the cavalry and chariot arms and he founded numerous colonies, some of which doubled as trading posts and military outposts. Trade relationships were a focus of his administration, Solomon is considered the most wealthy of the Israelite kings named in the Bible. Solomon also built the First Temple, beginning in the year of his reign. Solomon was the Biblical king most famous for his wisdom, in 1 Kings he sacrificed to God and prayed for wisdom. God personally answered his prayer, promising him great wisdom because he did not ask for self-serving rewards like long life or the death of his enemies. Perhaps the best known story of his wisdom is the Judgment of Solomon, Solomon easily resolved the dispute by commanding the child to be cut in half and shared between the two

40.
Jonah
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Jonah or Jonas is the name given in the Hebrew Bible to a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel in about the 8th century BCE. He is the central figure in the Book of Jonah. The biblical narrative of Jonah is repeated, with a few notable differences, Jonah is the son of Amittai, and he appears in 2 Kings as a prophet from Gath-Hepher, a few miles north of Nazareth. He is therein described as being active during the reign of the second King Jeroboam, Jonah is the central character in the Book of Jonah. A huge storm arises and the sailors, realizing that it is no storm, cast lots. Jonah admits this and states if he is thrown overboard. The sailors try to dump as much cargo as possible before giving up, the sailors then offer sacrifices to God. Jonah is miraculously saved by being swallowed by a fish in whose belly he spends three days and three nights. While in the fish, Jonah prays to God in his affliction and commits to thanksgiving. God commands the fish to spew Jonah out, God again commands Jonah to visit Nineveh and prophesy to its inhabitants. This time he goes and enters the city, crying, In forty days Nineveh shall be overthrown, after Jonah has walked across Nineveh, the people of Nineveh begin to believe his word and proclaim a fast. The king of Nineveh puts on sackcloth and sits in ashes, making a proclamation which decrees fasting, sackcloth, prayer, God sees their repentant hearts and spares the city at that time. The entire city is humbled and broken with the people in sackcloth, even the king comes off his throne to repent. Displeased by this, Jonah refers to his flight to Tarshish while asserting that, since God is merciful. He then leaves the city and makes himself a shelter, waiting to see whether or not the city will be destroyed, God causes a plant to grow over Jonahs shelter to give him some shade from the sun. Later, God causes a worm to bite the plants root, Jonah, now being exposed to the full force of the sun, becomes faint and desires that God take him out of the world. And God said to Jonah, Art thou greatly angry for the Kikayon, and he said, I am greatly angry, even unto death. In the New Testament, Jonah is mentioned in Matthew 12, 38–41 and 16,4 and in Luke 11, in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus makes a reference to Jonah when he is asked for a sign by some of the scribes and the Pharisees

41.
Elijah
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Elijah or Elias was a prophet and a miracle worker who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of Ahab, according to the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible. According to the Books of Kings Elijah defended the worship of Yahweh over that of the Canaanite deity Baal, Yahweh also performed many miracles through Elijah, including resurrection, bringing fire down from the sky, and entering Heaven alive by a whirlwind. He is also portrayed as leading a school of prophets known as the sons of the prophets, after his death, Elisha his disciple and most devoted assistant took over his role as leader of this school. References to Elijah appear in Ecclesiasticus, the New Testament, the Mishnah and Talmud, the Quran, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and Baháí writings. In Judaism, Elijahs name is invoked at the weekly Havdalah ritual that marks the end of Shabbat, and Elijah is invoked in other Jewish customs, among them the Passover Seder and the brit milah. He appears in stories and references in the Haggadah and rabbinic literature. The Christian New Testament describes how Elijah was thought, by some, Jesus makes it clear that John the Baptist is the Elijah who was promised to come in Malachi 4,5. Elijah appears with Moses during the Transfiguration of Jesus, Elijah is also a figure in various Christian folk traditions, often identified with earlier pagan thunder or sky gods. In Islam, Elijah appears in the Quran as a prophet and messenger of God, due to his importance to Muslims, Catholics and Orthodox Christians, Elijah has been venerated as the patron saint of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1752. However, scholars today are divided as to whether the united Kingdom under Solomon ever existed, omri achieved domestic security with a marriage alliance between his son Ahab and princess Jezebel, a priestess of Baal and the daughter of the king of Sidon in Phoenicia. Under Ahabs kingship, these tensions were exacerbated, Ahab built a temple for Baal, and his wife Jezebel brought a large entourage of priests and prophets of Baal and Asherah into the country. It is in context that Elijah is introduced in 1 Kings 17,1 as Elijah the Tishbite. No background for the person of Elijah is given except for his description as being a Tishbite. His name in Hebrew means My God is Yahweh, and may be a title applied to him because of his challenge to worship of Baal, as told in the Hebrew Bible, Elijahs challenge is bold and direct. Baal was the Canaanite god responsible for rain, thunder, lightning, Elijah not only challenges Baal on behalf of his own God, Yahweh, he challenges Jezebel, her priests, Ahab and the people of Israel. After Elijahs confrontation with Ahab, God tells him to out of Israel, to a hiding place by the brook Chorath, east of the Jordan. When the brook dries up, God sends him to a living in the town of Zarephath in Phoenicia. When Elijah finds her and asks to be fed, she says that she not have sufficient food to keep her and her own son alive

42.
Elisha
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Elisha is a Hebrew prophet and a wonder-worker whose life is documented in the Hebrew Bible. Also mentioned in the New Testament and the Quran, Elisha is venerated as a prophet in Judaism, Christianity, amongst new religious movements, Baháí writings refer to him by name. His name is transliterated into English as Elisha via Hebrew, Eliseus via Greek and Latin, or Alyasa via Arabic. He was a disciple of Elijah and, after Elijah was taken up into the whirlwind, Elishas story is related in the Book of Kings in the Hebrew Bible. He was a prophet and a wonder-worker of the Northern Kingdom of Israel who was active during the reign of Joram, Jehu, Jehoahaz, Elisha was the son of Shaphat, a wealthy land-owner of Abel-meholah, he became the attendant and disciple of Elijah. His name first occurs in the given to Elijah to anoint him as his successor. After learning in the cave on Mount Horeb, that Elisha, on his way from Sinai to Damascus, Elijah found Elisha one of them that were ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen. Elisha delayed only long enough to kill the yoke of oxen and he went over to him, threw his mantle over Elishas shoulders, and at once adopted him as a son, investing him with the prophetic office. Elisha accepted this call about four years before the death of Israels King Ahab, for the next seven or eight years Elisha became Elijahs close attendant until Elijah was taken up into heaven. During all these years we hear nothing of Elisha except in connection with the scenes of Elijahs life. After he had shared this farewell repast with his father, mother, and friends, the chosen prophet went after Elijah. Elisha then was separated from Elijah by a chariot. Before Elijah was taken up into the whirlwind, Elisha asked to inherit a double-portion of Elijahs spirit. Some scholars see this as indicative of the property inheritance customs of the time, in this interpretation Elisha is asking that he may be seen as the rightful heir and successor to Elijah. Critics of this point out that Elisha was already appointed as Elijahs successor earlier in the narrative. In this interpretation the double-portion isnt merely an allusion to primacy in succession, before he settled in Samaria, Elisha passed some time on Mount Carmel. When the armies of Judah, Israel and Edom, then allied against Mesha and his double prediction regarding relief from drought and victory over the Moabites was fulfilled on the following morning. When a group of boys from Bethel taunted the prophet for his baldness, Elisha cursed them in the name of Yahweh and he became noted in Israel, and for six decades held the office of prophet in Israel

43.
Zechariah (priest)
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Zechariah is a figure in the Bible and the Quran. In the Bible, he is the father of John the Baptist, a priest of the sons of Aaron, a prophet in Luke 1, 67–79, and the husband of Elizabeth who is a relative of the Virgin Mary. According to the Gospel of Luke, during the reign of king Herod, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the course of Abia, whose wife Elizabeth was also of the priestly family of Aaron. The evangelist states that both the parents were righteous before God, since they were blameless in observing the commandments, when the events related in Luke began, their marriage was still childless, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years. The duties at the temple in Jerusalem alternated between each of the lines that had descended from those appointed by king David. Luke states that during the week when it was the duty of Zechariahs family line to serve at the temple of the Lord, citing their advanced age, Zechariah asked with disbelief for a sign whereby he would know the truth of this prophecy. Consequently, when he went out to the worshippers in the temples outer courts. After returning to his house in Hebron, in the country of Judah. Elizabeth gave birth, and on the day, when their son was to be circumcised according to the commandment, her neighbours. Elizabeth, however, insisted that his name was to be John, so the family then questioned her husband. As soon as Zechariah had written on a table, His name is John, he regained the power of speech. The child grew up and waxed strong in spirit, but remained in the deserts of Judæa until he assumed the ministry that was to him the name John the Baptist. Origen suggested that the Zechariah mentioned in Matthew 23,35 as having killed between the temple and the altar may be the father of John the Baptist. This is also recorded in the Infancy Gospel of James, a work from the 2nd century. The Roman Catholic Church commemorates him as a saint, along with Elizabeth and he is also venerated as a prophet in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church on September 5. The Eastern Orthodox Church also celebrates the feast day of Zechariah on September 5, together with Elizabeth, Zechariah and Elizabeth are invoked in several prayers during the Orthodox Mystery of Crowning, as the priest blesses the newly married couple, saying Thou who didst. Accept Zechariah and Elizabeth, and didst make their offspring the Forerunner, and. bless them, O Lord our God, as Thou didst Zechariah and Elizabeth. In the Greek Orthodox calendar, Zechariah and Elizabeth are also commemorated on June 24, armenians believe that the Gandzasar Monastery in Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan contains relics of Zechariah

44.
John the Baptist
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John the Baptist, also known as John the Baptizer, was a Jewish itinerant preacher in the early first century AD. John is revered as a religious figure in Christianity, Islam, the Baháí Faith. He is called a prophet by all of these traditions, and is honoured as a saint in many Christian traditions, John used baptism as the central symbol or sacrament of his messianic movement. Most scholars agree that John baptized Jesus, scholars generally believe Jesus was a follower or disciple of John and several New Testament accounts report that some of Jesus early followers had previously been followers of John. John the Baptist is also mentioned by the Jewish historian Josephus, according to the New Testament, John anticipated a messianic figure greater than himself. Christians commonly refer to John as the precursor or forerunner of Jesus, John is also identified with the prophet Elijah. John the Baptist is mentioned in all four canonical Gospels and the non-canonical Gospel of the Nazarenes, the Synoptic Gospels describe John baptising Jesus, in the Gospel of John it is implied in John 1, 32-34. The Gospel of Mark introduces John as a fulfilment of a prophecy from the Book of Isaiah about a messenger being sent ahead, John is described as wearing clothes of camels hair, living on locusts and wild honey. John proclaims baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin, and says another will come after him who will not baptize with water, Jesus comes to John, and is baptized by him in the river Jordan. The account describes how, as he emerges from the water, the heavens open, a voice from heaven then says, You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased. Later in the gospel there is an account of Johns death and it is introduced by an incident where the Tetrarch Herod Antipas, hearing stories about Jesus, imagines that this is John the Baptist raised from the dead. It then explains that John had rebuked Herod for marrying Herodias, Herodias demands his execution, but Herod, who liked to listen to John, is reluctant to do so because he fears him, knowing he is a righteous and holy man. The account then describes how Herods daughter Herodias dances before Herod, when the girl asks her mother what she should request, she is told to demand the head of John the Baptist. Reluctantly, Herod orders the beheading of John, and his head is delivered to her, at her request, Johns disciples take the body away and bury it in a tomb. There are a number of difficulties with this passage, the Gospel wrongly identifies Antipas as King and the ex-husband of Herodias is named as Philip, but he is known to have been called Herod. Although the wording clearly implies the girl was the daughter of Herodias, many texts describe her as Herods daughter, Herodias. Since these texts are early and significant and the reading is difficult, many see this as the original version, corrected in later versions and in Matthew. Josephus says that Herodias had a daughter by the name of Salome, scholars have speculated about the origins of the story

45.
Jesus in Islam
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The Quran and most Hadith mention Jesus to have been born a pure boy to Mary as the result of virginal conception, similar to the event of the Annunciation in Christianity. Like all prophets in Islamic thought, Jesus is also called a Muslim, in Islam, Jesus is believed to have been the precursor to Muhammad, attributing the name Ahmad to someone who would follow Jesus. Muslim tradition believes Jesus will return to earth near the Day of Judgment to restore justice, the narrative has been recounted with variations and additions by Islamic historians over the centuries. Secluded in a church, she is joined by a man named Joseph. Mary is later described as a widow, without mention of a previous husband, the account of the birth of Jesus follows the Qurans narrative, adding that the birth occurred in Bethlehem beside a palm tree with a manger. The work The Meadows of Gold by Al-Masudi, an Arab historian and geographer, al-Athir writes about how Jesus as a young boy helped to detect a thief, and about bringing a boy back to life which Jesus was accused of having killed. Al-Athir makes a point believing Marys pregnancy to have lasted not nine or eight months and his basis is that this understanding is closer to where the Quran says Mary conceived him and retired with him to a distant place. The virgin birth of Jesus is announced to Mary by the angel Gabriel while Mary is being raised in the Temple after having been pledged to God by her mother. Gabriel states she is honored over all women of all nations and has brought her glad tidings of a holy son. A hadith narrated by Abu Hurairah, one of the earliest companions of Muhammad, quotes Muhammad, a baby who is touched like that gives a cry. The only exceptions are Mary and her son, the angel declares the son is to be named Jesus, the Messiah, proclaiming he will be called a great prophet, being the Spirit of God and Word of God, who will receive al-Injīl. The angel tells Mary that Jesus will speak in infancy and, Mary, responding how she could conceive and have a child when no man had touched her, was told by the angel that God can decree what He wills, and it shall come to pass. A spirit from none other than God, So that he raise the dead. Mary, overcome by the pains of childbirth, is provided a stream of water under her feet from which she could drink, as Mary carried baby Jesus back to the temple, she was asked by the temple elders about the child. Having been commanded by Gabriel to a vow of silence, she points to the infant Jesus and the infant proclaims. Peace be upon me, the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I am raised up alive. Jesus speaking from the cradle is mentioned as one of six miracles in the Quran, the speaking infant narrative is also found in the Syriac Infancy Gospel, a pre-Islamic sixth century work. Many moral stories and miraculous events of Jesus youth are mentioned in Qisas al-anbiya, books composed over the centuries about pre-Islamic prophets and it is generally agreed that Jesus spoke Aramaic, the common language of Judea in the first century AD and the region at-large. Tradition believes Jesus mission was to the people of Israel, his status as a prophet confirmed by numerous miracles, from this basis reflected upon all previous prophets through the lens of Muslim identity, Jesus is no more than a messenger repeating the same message of the ages

46.
Jesus
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In Christology, the Person of Christ refers to the study of the human and divine natures of Jesus Christ as they co-exist within one person. There is no discussion in the New Testament regarding the dual nature of the Person of Christ as both divine and human. Hence, since the days of Christianity theologians have debated various approaches to the understanding of these natures. In the period following the Apostolic Age, specific beliefs such as Arianism and Docetism were criticized. On the other end of the spectrum, Docetism argued that Jesus physical body was an illusion, docetic teachings were attacked by St. Ignatius of Antioch and were eventually abandoned by proto-orthodox Christians. However, after the First Council of Nicaea in 325 the Logos, historically in the Alexandrian school of christology, Jesus Christ is the eternal Logos paradoxically humanized in history, a divine Person who became enfleshed, uniting himself to the human nature. The views of these schools can be summarized as follows, Alexandria, Antioch, Logos assumes a specific human being The First Council of Ephesus in 431 debated a number of views regarding the Person of Christ. At the same gathering the council debated the doctrines of monophysitism or miaphysitism. The council rejected Nestorianism and adopted the term hypostatic union, referring to divine, the language used in the 431 declaration was further refined at the 451 Council of Chalcedon. However, the Chalcedon creed was not accepted by all Christians, because Saint Augustine died in 430 he did not participate in the Council of Ephesus in 431 or Chalcedon in 451, but his ideas had some impact on both councils. On the other hand, the major theological figure of the Middle Ages. The Third Council of Constantinople in 680 held that both divine and human wills exist in Jesus, with the divine will having precedence, leading and guiding the human will. John Calvin maintained that there was no element in the Person of Christ which could be separated from the person of The Word. Calvin also emphasized the importance of the Work of Christ in any attempt at understanding the Person of Christ, the study of the Person of Christ continued into the 20th century, with modern theologians such as Karl Rahner and Hans von Balthasar. Balthasar argued that the union of the human and divine natures of Christ was achieved not by the absorption of human attributes, thus in his view the divine nature of Christ was not affected by the human attributes and remained forever divine

47.
Muhammad in Islam
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Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbdul-Muttalib ibn Hashim, in short form Muhammad, is considered by Muslims to be the last Rasul and Nabi sent by Allah to guide humanity to the right way. The religious, social, and political tenets that Muhammad established in the light of Quran became the foundation of Islam, Muslims often refer to Muhammad as Prophet Muhammad, or just The Prophet or The Messenger, and regard him as the greatest of all Prophets. He is seen by Muslims as a possessor of all the virtues, as an act of respect, Muslims follow the name of Muhammad by the Arabic benediction sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, a practice instructed by Qur’an and Hadith. The deeds and sayings in the life of Muhammad – known as Sunnah – are considered a model of the life-style that Muslims are obliged to follow. Recognizing Muhammad as Gods final messenger is one of the requirements in Islam which is clearly laid down in the second part of the Shahadah. The Qur’an chiefly refers to Muhammad as Messenger and Messenger of God, and asks people to him so as to become successful in this life. Born in about 570 CE into a respected Qurayshi family of Mecca, because of persecution of the newly converted Muslims, upon the invitation of a delegation from Medina, Muhammad and his followers migrated to Medina in 622 CE, an event known as Hijra. A turning point in Muhammads life, this Hijra also marks the beginning of Islamic calendar. Despite the ongoing hostility of the Meccans, Muhammad, along with his followers, took control of Mecca in 630 CE, treated its citizens with generosity, and ordered to destroy all the pagan idols. By the time he died in 632, his teachings had won the acceptance of Islam by almost all the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula. The Qur’an enumerates little about Muhammads early life or other details, but it talks about his prophetic mission, his moral excellence. According to the Qur’an, Muhammad is the last in a chain of prophets sent by God, throughout the Qur’an, Muhammad is referred to as Messenger, Messenger of God, and Prophet. Some of such verses are 2,101,2,143,2,151,3,32,3,81,3,144,3,164,4, 79-80,5,15,5,41,7,157,8,01,9,3,33,40,48,29, and 66,09. Other terms are used, including Warner, bearer of glad tidings, the Quran asserts that Muhammad was a man who possessed the highest moral excellence, and that God made him a good example or a goodly model for Muslims to follow. The Quran disclaims any superhuman characteristics for Muhammad, but describes him in terms of human qualities. In several verses, the Quran crystallizes Muhammad’s relation to humanity, according to the Quran, God sent Muhammad with truth, and as a blessing to the whole world. The Quran also categorizes some theological issues regarding Muhammad, the most important among them is the edict to follow the teachings of Muhammad. The Quran repeatedly commands people to follow God and his Messenger in verses including 3, 31-32,3,132,4,59, and 4,69

48.
Muhammad
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Muhammad is the prophet of Islam. From a secular historical perspective he was a religious, political, from an Islamic perspective, he was Gods Messenger sent to confirm the essential teachings of monotheism preached previously by Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. He is viewed as the prophet of God in all branches of Islam. Muhammad united Arabia into a single Muslim polity and ensured that his teachings, practices, born approximately 570 CE in the Arabian city of Mecca, Muhammad was orphaned at an early age, he was raised under the care of his paternal uncle Abu Talib. Muhammad gained few early followers, and met hostility from some Meccan tribes, to escape persecution, Muhammad sent some followers to Abyssinia before he and his followers migrated from Mecca to Medina in the year 622. This event, the Hijra, marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar, in Medina, Muhammad united the tribes under the Constitution of Medina. In December 629, after eight years of intermittent conflict with Meccan tribes, Muhammad gathered an army of 10,000 Muslim converts, the attack went largely uncontested and Muhammad seized the city with little bloodshed. In 632, a few months after returning from the Farewell Pilgrimage, he fell ill, before his death, most of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam. The revelations, which Muhammad reported receiving until his death, form the verses of the Quran, regarded by Muslims as the Word of God and around which the religion is based. Besides the Quran, Muhammads teachings and practices, found in the Hadith and sira literature, are upheld by Muslims. The name Muhammad means praiseworthy and appears four times in the Quran, Muhammad is sometimes addressed by designations deriving from his state at the time of the address, thus he is referred to as the enwrapped in Quran 73,1 and the shrouded in Quran 74,1. In Sura Al-Ahzab 33,40 God singles out Muhammad as the Seal of the Prophets, the Quran also refers to Muhammad as Aḥmad more praiseworthy. The name Abū al-Qāsim Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib ibn Hāshim, begins with the kunya Abū, the Quran is the central religious text of Islam. Muslims believe it represents the words of God revealed by the archangel Gabriel to Muhammad, the Quran, however, provides minimal assistance for Muhammads chronological biography, most Quranic verses do not provide significant historical context. An important source may be found in the works by writers of the 2nd. These include the traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad, which additional information about Muhammads life. The earliest surviving written sira is Ibn Ishaqs Life of Gods Messenger written c.767 CE, although the work was lost, this sira was used verbatim at great length by Ibn Hisham and Al-Tabari. Another early history source is the history of Muhammads campaigns by al-Waqidi, many scholars accept the earliest biographies as accurate, though their accuracy is unascertainable

49.
Prophetic biography
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In the Arabic language the word sīra or sīrat comes from the verb sāra, which means to travel or to be on a journey. A persons sīra is that person’s journey through life, or biography, encompassing their birth, events in their life, manners and characteristics, in modern usage it may also refer to a persons resume. It is sometimes written as seera, sirah or sirat, all meaning life or journey, in Islamic literature, the plural form, siyar, could also refer to the rules of war and dealing with non-Muslims. The phrase sīrat rasūl allāh, or al-sīra al-nabawiyya, refers to the study of the life of Muhammad, the term sīra was first linked to the biography of Muhammad by Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri, and later popularized by the work of Ibn Hisham. In the first two centuries of Islamic history, sīra was more known as maghāzī, which is now considered to be only a subset of sīra. Early works of sīra consist of historical reports, or akhbār. Sometimes the word tradition or hadith is used instead, the sīra literature includes a variety of heterogeneous materials, containing mainly stories of military expeditions undertaken by Muhammad and his companions. These stories are intended as historical accounts and used for veneration, the sīra also includes a number of written documents, such as political treaties, military enlistments, assignments of officials, letters to foreign rulers, and so forth. It also records some of the speeches and sermons made by Muhammad, some of the sīra accounts include verses of poetry commemorating certain events and battles. While some of which are considered to be of a quality and lacking authenticity. At later periods, certain type of stories included in sīra developed into their own separate genres, one genre is concerned with stories of prophetic miracles, called aʿlām al-nubuwa. Another genre, called faḍāʾil wa mathālib — tales that show the merits and faults of individual companions, enemies, and other notable contemporaries of Muhammad. Some works of sīra also positioned the story of Muhammad as part of a narrative that includes stories of prophets, Persian Kings, pre-Islamic Arab tribes. Parts of sīra were inspired by, or elaborate upon, events mentioned in the Quran and these parts were often used by writers of tafsir and asbab al-nuzul to provide background information for events mentioned in certain ayat. The main difference between a hadith and a report is that a hadith is not concerned with an event as such. Rather the purpose of hadith is to record a religious doctrine as a source of Islamic law. By contrast, while a khabar may carry some legal or theological implications, in terms of structure, a hadith and a khabar are very similar. Thus starting from the 8th and 9th century, many scholars have devoted their efforts to both kinds of texts equally, also some historians consider the sīra and maghāzī literature to be a subset of Hadith

Mûsâ ibn 'Imran (Arabic: ٰمُوسَى‎, translit. Mūsā) known as Moses in the Hebrew Bible, considered a prophet, messenger, …

Asiya (depicted with long black tresses) and her servants, having finished bathing, find baby Moses in the Nile. Their clothes hang in the trees while the river waves and crests are done in the Chinese style. Illustration from the Persian Jami' al-tawarikh

The revelation of the Torah at Mount Sinai as depicted in Biblical illustrations

Miniature from Hafiz-i Abru’s Majma al-tawarikh. “Noah’s Ark” Iran (Afghanistan), Herat; Timur’s son Shah Rukh (1405-1447) ordered the historian Hafiz-i Abru to write a continuation of Rashid al-Din’s famous history of the world, Jami al-tawarikh. Like the Il-Khanids, the Timurids were concerned with legitimizing their right to rule, and Hafiz-i Abru’s “A Collection of Histories” covers a period that included the time of Shah Rukh himself.